THE Congress party has released the first list of 30 candidates for Chhattisgarh assembly elections on the occasion of first day of the Sharadiya Navratri, on Sunday as expected. Elections in Chhattisgarh will be conducted in two phases on November 7 and 17. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has been fielded from Patan legislative assembly constituency, Deputy Chief Minister T S Singhdeo from Ambikapur legislative assembly constituency, Speaker of Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly Dr Charan Das Mahant from Sakti and State Congress President Deepak Baij from Chitrakote Legislative Assembly constituency. The Congress party has declared the names of the party candidates or 19 seats out of 20 seats going to polls in the first phase of assembly elections on November 7. The party has given ticket to five new candidates in the assembly elections in the first list and eight sitting MLAs- namely- Nawagarh MLA Gurudayal Singh Banjare, Pandariya MLA Mamta Chandrakar, Dongargarh MLA Bhuneshwar Singh Baghel, Khujji MLA Chhanni Sahu, Antagarh MLA Anoop Nag, Kanker MLA Shishupal Shori, Chitrakote MLA Rajman Venjam, and Dantewada MLA Devati Karma have been denied the tickets for the assembly elections-2023. The name of the Congress candidate for Jagdalpur assembly seat has not been announced where the election will be held in the first phase.

 

Cabinet Minister and Ahirwara MLA Guru Rudra Kumar has been given ticket from Nawagarh assembly seat (reserved for SC) replacing sitting MLA Guru Dayal Singh. Neelkanth Chandravanshi has replaced sitting MLA Mamta Chandrakar from Pandariya seat. Cabinet Minister Mohammad Akbar has been repeated from Kawardha seat. Yashoda Verma from Khairagarh, Daleshwar Sahu from Dongargaon, Inder Shah Mandvi from Mohla-Manpur (ST), Savitri Mandvi from Bhanupratappur (ST), Deputy Assembly Speaker Sant Ram Netam from Keshkal (ST), former State Congress President and Cabinet Minister Mohan Markam from Kondagaon (ST), Chandan Kashyap from Narayanpur (ST), Lakheshwar Baghel from Bastar (ST), Vikram Mandvi from Bijapur (ST) and Kawasi Lakhma from Konta seat (ST) have been repeated for the assembly poll-2023. Harshita Baghel has been given the ticket from Dongargarh replacing sitting MLA Bhuneshwar Singh Baghel. Chairman of State Mineral Development Corporation Girish Dewangan, who is a close associate Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, has been given ticket from Rajnandgaon seat against former chief minister Dr. Raman Singh. Khujji MLA Chhanni Sahu has been denied ticket with Bhola Ram Sahu replacing her from Khujji seat.

 

Sitting MLA Anoop Nag’s from Antgarh (ST) has been replaced by Roop Singh Potai. Shankar Dhurva has been given the ticket in place of sitting MLA Shishupal Sori from Kanker seat (ST). MP Deepak Baij has got the ticket from Chitrakote seat (ST) in place of sitting MLA Rajman Benjamin. Dantewada sitting MLA Devati Karma’s son K Chavindra Mahendra Karma’s has been given ticket from Dantewada seat. Cabinet Minister Amarjeet Bhagat from Sitapur (ST), Minister Umesh Patel from Kharsia, Minister Jaisingh Agrawal from Korba, Dr Charandas Mahant from Sakti, Cabinet Minister Dr Shivkumar Dahria from Arang (SC), Cabinet Minister Anil Bhendiya from Daundi Lohara (ST), Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Patan, Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu from Durg Rural and Cabinet Minister Ravindra Choubey from Saja seat have been repeated. The Congress party has given tickets to all the cabinet ministers for the assembly polls2023. It may be mentioned that the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced 85 candidates out of 90 seats so far.