BJP Released First List of Candidates for MP, Chattisgarh Polls (Image: bjp.org)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released their first list of candidates for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh polls on Thursday. What is notable is the party releasing the candidates’ list before the official election dates’ announcement by the Election Commission of India.
BJP is expecting a tough fight in both the States later in the year.
Chhattisgarh has 90 constituencies in their Legislative Assembly. Among them, a list of 21 candidates are now released. Similarly, for Madhya Pradesh, having 230 seats in total, 39 candidates were announced.
“The BJP Central Election Committee has given its approval on the following names for the upcoming assembly elections 2023 to be held in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh”, wrote BJP on X (formerly Twitter) declaring the names.
भाजपा केन्द्रीय चुनाव समिति ने छत्तीसगढ़ एवं मध्य प्रदेश में होने वाले आगामी विधानसभा चुनाव 2023 के लिए निम्नलिखित नामों पर अपनी स्वीकृति प्रदान की है। (2/2) pic.twitter.com/VsjOfj3DVe
— BJP (@BJP4India) August 17, 2023
The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the BJP”s Central Election Committee.
The committee is the party”s decision-making body for selecting candidates and preparing strategies for polls.
This will be the major poll BJP will be handling after their failure in the Karnataka elections earlier this year.
Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are among five states going to polls later this year, along with Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram. Among these, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana are currently ruled by Opposition parties.
In the list released of Chhattisgarh, the names of former Chief Minister Raman Singh and some other senior party leaders are excluded. It comprises five women candidates, ten from Scheduled Tribes and one from Scheduled Caste.
In Madhya Pradesh, the names of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other prominent ministers are not on the first list of candidates. There, BJP has chosen five women, eight Scheduled Caste, and 13 Scheduled Tribes as candidates.
