The BJP, on Thursday, came out with its first list of 21 candidates for Chhattisgarh and 39 candidates for Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. The names were decided at the saffron party's central election committee meeting, chaired by party chief J.P. Nadda and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah among other senior leaders.
The first list of candidates for both states includes five women.
The BJP has fielded Durg MP Vijay Baghel from Patan, which is currently represented by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel.
Other candidates whose names have been announced include Bhulan Singh Maravi from Premnagar, Laxmi Rajwade from Bhatgaon, Shakuntala Singh Porthe from Pratappur (ST), Sarla Kosaria from Saraipali (SC), Alka Chandrakar from Khallari, Gita Ghasi Sahu from Khujji and Maniram Kashyap from Bastar (ST).
In Madhya Pradesh where the BJP is in power, the party has fielded Sarla Vijendra Rawat from Sabalgarh, Priyanka Meena from Chachaoura, Lalita Yadav from Chhatarpur, Anchal Sonkar from Jabalpur Purba (SC), Nirmala Bhuriya from Petlawad, Bhanu Bhuriya from Jhabua (ST), Alok Sharma from Bhopal Uttar and Dhruv Narayan Singh from Bhopal Madhya.
The dates of the elections in both states are yet to be announced.
The BJP, in 2018, had won only 15 of the 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh assembly against 68 of the Congress while it won 109 against 114 of the Congress in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.
Apart from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, three more states—Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram—will go to polls later this year.
