The Congress on October 19 late evening released its second list of candidates for 85 seats and replaced three earlier announced candidates for the upcoming Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh.
In the fresh list, the party named Arvind Singh Lodhi from Pichhore in place of Shailendra Singh, and former Assembly Speaker during the 15-month Kamal Nath government Narmada Prasad Prajapati from Gotegaon replacing Shekhar Chaudhary. Mr. Prajapati’s name was missing from the first list of 144 candidates the party released on Sunday.
The party also replaced Awadhesh Nayak, a ex-BJP strongman, with former MLA Rajendra Bharti on Datia Assembly segment against State Home Minister Narottam Mishra.
Sitting MLA fielded
The party has fielded sitting MLA Ravindra Singh Tomar Bhidosa against Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar from Dimani seat.
The Congress had declared its candidates for 144 seats on Sunday, much after the BJP announced its 136 names through three lists. The party has released its candidates for 229 out of 230 seats ahead of the BJP.
The party, however, has not declared its candidate for Amla seat in Betul district. Chhatarpur Sub-Divisional Magistrate Nisha Bangre, who hails from Amla, has resigned from her post to contest the polls from the constituency. Her resignation is yet to be accepted by the government, forcing her to approach the M.P. High Court.
Ms. Bangre had earlier approached the Supreme Court for permission to contest the polls, but on Wednesday the apex court rejected her plea and asked her to go to the High Court, where the matter is pending.
Even though Ms. Bangre has not made it clear which party she will contest from, she has received support from various Congress leaders. Party Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha had also represented her in the Supreme Court.
