BJP releases first list of candidates for Chhattisgarh, MP polls before EC announces dates

In an unprecedented move, the Bharatiya Janata Party got into election mode on Thursday (August 17) and announced its first list of candidates for the Assembly polls for Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh scheduled to be held later this year.

Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are among five states going to polls later this year, along with Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram.

This is the first time the BJP has announced names of candidates even before the Election Commission of India has released the poll dates for the Assembly elections in both these states, said news reports. Unwilling to take any chances after the Karnataka elections debacle, the BJP is keen to iron out any problems over selection of poll candidates.

The BJP, which is eyeing a comeback in Chhattisgarh, announced candidates for 21 seats for the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly in its first list. Interestingly, in 2018, it had lost to the Congress in these seats.

Who's on the list?

There are 16 fresh faces in this first list, while five candidates are former MLAs. The list also contains five women. Of the 21 seats for which nominees were announced by the BJP, ten are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and one for Scheduled Castes (SC). All these 21 seats are currently held by the ruling Congress.

One of the highlights in this first list is the inclusion of Durg MP Vijay Baghel, who will contest from Patan, the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Vijay Baghel had defeated Bhupesh Baghel in 2008 assembly elections from the same seat. But, in 2013, he lost to Bhupesh Baghel.

Vijay Baghel also heads the 31-member `Ghoshna Patra Samiti' or poll manifesto committee of the BJP for the coming polls.

The names of former Chief Minister Raman Singh and other senior party leaders are missing from the first list. However, former Chhattisgarh minister Ramvihcar Netam will contest from Ramanujganj (ST) seat, where he had suffered defeat in 2013 against incumbent Congress MLA Brihaspat Singh. Both Vijay Baghel and Netam did not contest the 2018 assembly elections.

BJP spokesperson Devlal Halwa Thakur is to contest from Daundi Lohara (ST) seat, while Rajnandgaon Zila Panchayat vice-president Vikrant Singh, a relative of senior BJP leader and former chief minister Raman Singh, will contest from Khairagarh seat.

Commenting on the BJP's first list, senior journalist and political analyst R Krishna Das said the BJP seemed to have declared candidates for the seats where there were not much differences within the party over the nominees. While in 2018, the saffron party had drawn blank in all these 21 seats, even in 2013 (when it retained power in the state) it had suffered defeat in 16 of these seats, he noted.

Declaration of candidates so early will benefit the candidates who will have sufficient time for preparations, pointed out Das.

Madhya Pradesh

In its first list for the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has again focused on seats, which it had lost in 2018 and some of them in 2013.

In what appears to be a change in strategy, the BJP released its first list of 39 candidates, which includes five women, for the 230-member House in Madhya Pradesh. According to reports, by releasing its first list of candidates early, it has stolen a march over its main rival Congress in terms of election preparedness and finalisation of nominees.

The Assembly polls in MP are due by the year-end and it is expected to be a neck-to-neck fight between the BJP and the Congress.

Last week, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a marginal player in the central state known for its bipolar politics, had released its first list of seven candidates, becoming the first political party to do so.

BJP lost in these 39 seats in 2018

In the last Assembly polls held in November 2018, the saffron party lost in these 39 seats. Almost all the seats went to the Congress which formed its government in December that year, but was ousted from power in March 2020. The BJP had failed to win some of these 39 seats in 2013 too.

A cursory look at the list, which includes a number of seats reserved for SC/ST candidates, indicates the BJP has reposed faith in 14 candidates, including three former state ministers, Lalsingh Arya, Lalit Yadav and Omprakash Dhurwey, who lost elections five years ago.

The names of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and prominent ministers are absent from the first list of candidates.

Former AAP leader in list

Rajkumar Karrahe, who resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday morning, has been included in the list announced in New Delhi in the evening. The BJP has fielded him from Lanji in Balaghat district.

As per the list signed by BJP general secretary Arun Singh, Dhruv Narayan Singh and Alok Sharma will contest polls from Central Bhopal and North Bhopal, respectively, while former minister Arya and Pritam Lodhi will be in the field from Gohad (SC) and Pichhore in Shivpuri district, respectively.

Sarla Vijendra Rawat (Sabalgarh), Adal Singh Kansana (Sumawali), Priyanka Meena (Chahoura), Jagannath Singh Raghuvanshi (Chanderi), Veerendra Singh Lambardar (Banda), Kamakhya Pratap Singh (Maharajpur), Lalita Yadav (Chhatarpur), Lakhan Patel (Patharyia), Rajesh Kumar Verma (Gunndaor-SC), Surendra Singh Gaharwar (Chitrakoot), Heersingh Shyam (Pushrajgarh-ST), Dhirendra Singh (Barwara-ST), Neeraj Thakur (Bargi) and Anchal Sonkar (Jabalpur East) are among the candidates.

The other contestants include Omprakash Dhurwey (Shahpura-ST), Dr Vijay Anand Marawai (Bichhiya- ST), Bhagat Singh Netam (Baihar-ST), Kamal Maskole (Barghat-ST), Mahendra Nagesh (Gotegaon-SC), Nanabhau Mohod (Saunsar), Prakash Uikey (Pandhurna-ST) and Chandrashekhar Deshmukh (Multai).

Mahendra Singh Chouhan (Bhainsdehi-ST), Rajesh Sonkar (Sonkatch-SC), Rajkumar Mev (Maheshwar-SC), Atmaram Patel (Kasrawad), Nagr Singh Chouhan (Alirajpur-ST), Bhanua Bhuriya (Jhabua ST), Nirmala Bhuriya (Petlawad-ST), Jaydeep Patel (Kukshi ST), Kalu Singh Thakur (Dharampuri-ST), Madhua Verma (Rau,) Tarachand Goyal (Tarana-SC) and Satish Malivya (Ghatiya -SC) were also nominated by the BJP to contest polls.