The ruling Congress on Sunday released its third and final list of seven candidates for the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls scheduled for next month.
Having already announced 83 candidates in two lists of 30 and 53 earlier, the party has covered all 90 Assembly segments in the State and has replaced 22 sitting MLAs in total with new candidates.
Of the seven seats for which the party named candidates on Sunday, the Congress had won six in 2018, but the party has chosen to drop four of those this time. The two sitting MLAs to retain their candidature are Ambica Singh Deo from Baikunthpur and Kuldeep Juneja from Raipur (North). In Dhamtari, which the Congress lost in 2018, it has gone with a new candidate. Two of the seven seats in the third list are from reserved constituencies — one each SC and ST — while among the five remaining general seats, it has fielded three OBC candidates, two among them from the numerically powerful Sahu community.
In the list of 90, 33 are from ST, 29 from OBC, 10 from SC and 15 from general categories, while three are minorities.
While reactions to Sunday’s list are awaited, the changes in the earlier lists have drawn the ire of candidates who have failed to make the cut.
Targets Singh Deo
The most vocal among them is Brihaspat Singh who has targeted Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo, even going on to the extent of accusing him of having reached a compromise with the main Opposition party, the BJP. The two share an acrimonious past and have targeted each other publicly.
Mr. Singh Deo — who had earlier told The Hindu that all candidates were selected in a professional manner — has dismissed the criticism saying he doesn’t pay attention to such remarks.
The BJP, the main Opposition in the State, meanwhile has announced 86 candidates.
Earlier in the day, when asked about the party’s remaining candidates, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said it would arrive soon and questioned the delay in the BJP’s announcement.
“That will happen soon... We have done all the exercises but why is the BJP waiting. They are releasing lists one by one, they released Pandariya’s list and now they are stuck again,” he said.
