BJP Releases first list for Chhattisgarh, Telangana Assembly Polls Out

New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its first list of candidates for the Chhattisgarh, Telangana Assembly elections after long deliberations at a central election committee (CEC) meeting of the party. The party announced names of 77 candidates for Chhattisgarh, 38 for Telangana.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who is seeking his fourth consecutive term, will contest from the Rajnandgaon seat.

Among the 77 candidates announced out of a total of 90 Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, 14 are women candidates and 14 sitting MLAs have been replaced with new names, Union Minister J.P. Nadda told reporters after the CEC meet attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

Among those fielded by the BJP include former IAS officer O.P. Chaudhary and tribal leader Ramdayal Uike, who recently left the Congress to join the party.

Chaudhary, the former Collector of Raipur, has been fielded from Kharsia constituency, while Uike will contest from Pali Tanakhar (ST) seat. Besides, Chaudhary and Uike, the BJP named Ama Agarwal from Bilaspur, Brij Mohan Agrawal from Raipur City (South) seats. The party also released the list of 38 candidate for the upcoming Telangana Assembly polls.

“The party has considered the aspirations of our dedicated workers in Telangana region. Adequate representation has been given to the representatives of all communities,” Nadda said.

Elections in Chhattisgarh are scheduled in two phases — on November 12 and November 20, while the polling in Telangana will take place on December 7. The counting of votes will take place on December 11. (IANS)