In Chhattisgarh, BJP releases second list with 64 candidates

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its second list of candidates for the upcoming Chhattisgarh assembly polls, including former chief minister Raman Singh. The list includes 64 candidates, bringing the total to 85 for the 90-member house. The list includes fresh faces, three sitting MPs, and two former Indian Administrative Service officers. The BJP is hoping to make a comeback in Chhattisgarh.

RAIPUR : Eyeing a comeback in Chhattisgarh in the assembly polls to be held on November 7 and 17, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday released its second list of 64 candidates, including that of former chief minister Raman Singh, who will contest from Rajnandgaon, taking the total number of candidates to 85 for the 90- member house.

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The list with more than 20 fresh faces includes names of three sitting MPs and two former Indian Administrative Service officers. It also includes nine women candidates.

Most of the former ministers in Raman Singh’s cabinet, including Brijmohan Agarwal , Rajesh Munat , Mahesh Gagda, Amar Agarwal, Kedar Kashyap, Ajay Chandrakar, Punnu Lal Mohale, Bhaiya Lal Rajwade and Prem Prakash Pandey, have been named as candidates.

Of the 64 seats for which nominees were announced by the BJP, 19 are reserved for scheduled tribes and nine for scheduled castes.

BJP state unit president and Bilaspur MP Arun Sao has been fielded from Lormi, Surguja MP Renuka Singh from Bharatpur-Sonhat (ST reserved) and Raigarh MP Gomti Sai from Pathalgaon (ST).

Singh will be contesting from his traditional Rajnandgaon seat, while leader of the opposition in the assembly, Narayan Prasad Chandel, has been renominated from his Janjir-Champa seat.

In the first list of 21 candidates, announced on August 17, there were 16 fresh faces, five former MLAs and five women.

There are five seats on which the declaration of candidates are still pending, which include Bemetara, Khallari, Belatara, Ambikapur, and Pandariya.

The BJP strategically gave a ticket to a Sahu in Saja seat against state minister Ravindra Chaubey to polarize Sahu votes in the state.

“By giving ticket to Ishwar Sahu , the father of deceased Bhuvaneshvar Sahu, who got killed in a communal clash at Biranpur a few months back, the party gave a statewide message and also polarized Sahu voters, who are highest in number (around 12%) in the plains of Chhattisgarh,” a BJP functionary said, declining to be named. “Sahus used to be traditional BJP voters, but they shifted towards the Congress in the last 2018 election. The BJP is eyeing the Sahu voters this time.”

The BJP has given two tickets to the family of Dilip Singh Judeo at Chadrapur and Kota. The Judeo family has its influence in the party and the late Dilip Singh Judeo’s youngest son, Prabal Pratap Singh Judeo, and daughter-in-law Sanyogita Judeo have been given party tickets from Kota and Chandrapur seats, respectively.

It will be Prabal Pratap’s first election, and Sanyogita’s second fight, as she lost to Ramkumar Yadav in 2018.

Two former IAS officers, OP Choudhary and Neelkanth Tekam, have been given tickets.

“The first impression after the release of this list was that Raman Singh played a crucial role in finalizing the candidates. However, after the names were declared, party cadres started expressing dissatisfaction because the party has given tickets to the same old faces who contributed to the party’s defeat in the 2018 election leading to 15 seats,” another BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.

Over the past four years, the Congress created a narrative of “Chhattsigarhiyavad” to counter the BJP.

“It was expected that the BJP would address sub-nationalism of “Chhattsigarhiyavad” through better ticket distribution, but this did not happen,” said Harsh Dubey, a political commentator. “In Chhattisgarh, Congress supporters are confident after the BJP’s second list, as they believe that Congress has successfully established a strong narrative of insider versus outsider. Since the BJP candidates are mostly the same, Congress only needs to reinvigorate their 2018 campaign with greater aggression and effectiveness,”

Another BJP leader who was hoping for a ticket claimed that party workers are not happy with the list.

“It was because of these upper caste ministers that we lost the 2018 elections, and the party has again given them a chance,” the leader said, wishing to remain unnamed.