BJP picks 39 for Madhya Pradesh, 21 for Chhattisgarh elections

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, August 17

The BJP on Thursday announced candidates for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh elections even before the declaration of the poll schedules by the Election Commission.

The party named 39 candidates for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly and 21 for the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly.

This is the first time that the BJP, in a change of strategy, announced candidates well before the unveiling of poll schedules, taking the lead over its principal rival, the Congress. The names were finalised late last night at a meeting of the BJP central election committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The highlight of the list is the fielding of sitting Lok Sabha MP from Durg Vijay Baghel from the Patan Assembly seat (Durg parliamentary segment) which is represented by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Vijay Baghel had defeated Bhupesh Baghel in 2008 state elections but lost to him in 2013. In 2018 again, Bhupesh Baghel had won Patan, defeating the BJP’s Motilal Sahu by a margin of over 27,000 votes.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Vijay Baghel swept Durg with a margin of over 3.91 lakh votes over the Congress’ Pratima Chandrakar. Almost all seats declared today are the ones the BJP lost to the Congress both in MP and Chhattisgarh in the 2018 Assembly polls.

Sources said these seats are the toughest for the BJP, which wants to gain a foothold with candidates set to gain nearly three months to prepare and campaign for the polls scheduled later in the year. In MP, the BJP has fielded 14 candidates who had lost in 2018; among them are ex-ministers Omprakash Dhurwey, Lal Singh Arya, and Lalit Yadav.

While the BJP will defend its government in MP with CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan facing an 18-year anti-incumbency; in Chhattisgarh, the BJP is pitted against a strong incumbent, the Congress.

In the Chhattisgarh list, there are 16 fresh faces and five former MLAs. The lists for both states have five women candidates each.

A majority of the seats declared today are reserved for the SCs and STs.

Vasundhara missing from Rajasthan panels

• Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje doesn’t figure in two poll panels the BJP announced in Rajasthan on Thursday.
• Party sources say don’t read much into it as panels also don’t feature ex-state chief Satish Poonia, LoP in Assembly Rajendra Rathore and Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat.

Surjewala in-charge of Congress in MP

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala has been made general secretary in-charge of poll-bound MP. Mukul Wasnik has been made general secretary in-charge of the party’s Gujarat unit. Ajay Rai, ex-MLA, is president of the party’s UP unit.

Cong forms Chhattisgarh panel

The Congress has formed a political affairs committee of Chhattisgarh with AICC general secretary in-charge Kumari Selja as chairperson.