Raipur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is eyeing a comeback in Chhattisgarh in assembly elections later this year, released its first list of candidates for 21 seats on Thursday.
The early announcement — months before the elections were even announced — was focussed on seats that the party lost to the Congress in 2018. The first list included 16 fresh faces and five former lawmakers. Five of the candidates are women.
The party didn’t repeat a single candidate who contested from these seats in 2018, when the Congress won 68 of the 90 assembly seats and the BJP 15.
Of the 21 seats, 10 are reserved for Scheduled Tribe and one for Scheduled Caste. In the remaining 10 general seats, the BJP nominated eight candidates from other backward classes (OBC), one from “upper caste” and one from the tribal community.
The first list includes Durg MP Vijay Baghel who is slated to contest from Patan -- the assembly constituency of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel. Vijay Baghel, a relative of the CM, defeated Bhupesh Baghel in the 2008 assembly elections from the same seat but suffered a loss in the 2013 assembly elections. He did not contest the 2018 elections.
BJP leaders said that the party prioritised fresh candidates and local caste equations, except on some seats such as in Khairagarh where the party gave the ticket to Vikrant Singh, the nephew of former chief minister Raman Singh.
{{/usCountry}}BJP leaders said that the party prioritised fresh candidates and local caste equations, except on some seats such as in Khairagarh where the party gave the ticket to Vikrant Singh, the nephew of former chief minister Raman Singh.
{{/usCountry}}Former parliamentarian Ramvichar Netam, who did not contest the 2018 polls, is the candidate from Ramanujganj and is likely to face sitting Congress lawmaker Brihaspat Singh.
“Surprisingly Union Minister Renuka Singh was not fielded from Premnagar constituency from where she was trying hard. And they haven’t declared Kunkuri yet,” said a BJP leader from Surguja district, requesting anonymity.
A senior Congress leader said that the BJP appeared to be working hard to counter the Congress, and therefore fielding candidates who dominate local caste equations, and fresh faces.
The first list showed the BJP’s apparent attempt to reach out to the Sahu community, an OBC group considered the party’s traditional vote-bank. The community switched to the Congress in 2018 due to the buzz over the possibility of Tamradwaj Sahu becoming the CM.
BJP fielded four candidates from Sahu (business) community.
A senior BJP leader of Chhattisgarh -- who was part of the screening process of the candidates -- said that most of the faces were new and promising.
“We selected those who are working on the field for the party. Around a dozen surveys were done ...Sahus will vote for us this time and party has given enough representation to them in the first list. OBCs are the primary focus of the party in this election,” the leader said, requesting anonymity.