Chhattisgarh polls: Cong retains 25 MLAs in second list, fields 22 new faces

The ruling Congress' second list of 53 candidates for the next month's Chhattisgarh assembly elections, released on Wednesday, showed an attempt to strike a balance between old and new faces.

The party renominated 25 sitting MLAs, denied tickets to 10 incumbent legislators including a former minister, and fielded 22 new faces.

It has declared candidates for 83 out of 90 seats so far.

The Congress had lost on 17 of these 53 seats in the 2018 elections.

Polling is scheduled to be held in Chhattisgarh in two phases on November 7 and 17.

Of the 53 seats, 14 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and six for Scheduled Castes categories.

The Congress fielded 17 Other Backward Classes candidates on 17 out of the remaining 33 seats.

Ten women candidates, including three sitting MLAs and a former Rajya Sabha member, also figure in the list.

Senior MLAs Dhanendra Sahu, Khelsai Singh and Rampukar Singh were fielded from their traditional seats Abhanpur, Premnagar and Pathalgaon (ST), respectively, while former Rajya Sabha MP Chhaya Verma was fielded from Dharsiwa. The party denied ticket to Anita Yogendra Sharma from Dahrsinwa.

The other MLAs who were renominated are Gulab Singh Kamro (Bharatpur Sonhat), Paras Nath Rajwade (Bhatgaon), Pritam Ram (Lundra-ST), Vinay Kumar Bhagat (Jashpur-ST), U D Minj (Kunkuri-ST), Prakash Shakrajeet Naik (Raigarh), Uttari Jangde (Sarangarh-SC), Laljeet Singh Rathiya (Dharamjaigarh-ST), Purshottam Kanwar (Katghora), Dr KK Dhruv (Marwahi-ST), Rashmi Ashish Singh (Takhatpur), Shailesh Pandey (Bilaspur), Ram Kumar Yadav (Chandrapur), Devender Bahadur Singh (Basna), Dwarikadhish Yadav (Khallari), Vikas Upadhyay (Raipur West), Amitesh Shukla (Rajim), Sangeeta Sinha (Sanjari Balod), Kunwar Singh Nishad (Gunderdehi), Arun Vora (Durg city), Devendra Yadav (Bhilai Nagar) and Ashish Kumar Chhabra (Bemetara).

Notably, the Enforcement Directorate has named Devendra Yadav as an accused in a money laundering case linked to the alleged coal levy scam in the state. A court in Raipur issued a notice to Yadav in the case last month, asking him to appear on October 25.

The candidates who replaced sitting MLAs are Ramesh Singh (Manendragarh seat), Rajkumari Marawi (Pratappur-ST), Dr Ajay Tirkey (Ramanujganj-ST), Vijay Paikara (Samri), Vidyavati Sidar (Lailunga-ST), Duleshwari Sidar (Pali-Tanakhar - ST), Kavita Pran Lahare (Bilaigarh-SC), Jitin Jasiwal (Jagdalpur) and Pankaj Sharma (Raipur Rural).

Pankaj Sharma is the son of sitting Raipur Rural MLA and senior party leader Satyanarayan Sharma.

The party denied ticket to senior MLA from Pratappur seat Premsai Sing Tekam who had served as school education minister in the Bhupesh Baghel cabinet before being replaced by Mohan Markam in July this year.

Among new faces, chairman of the Chhattisgarh State Textbook Corporation Shailesh Nitin Trivedi was fielded from Baloda Bazar.

The party fielded Nirmal Kosare, a new face, from Ahiwara (SC) seat which is currently held by minister Guru Rudra Kumar. Kumar was fielded from Navagarh this time. His name had featured in the first list of candidates.

The Congress has denied tickets to 18 sitting MLAs so far.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has so far announced candidates for 86 seats..