Congress workers cutting across ranks have applied in large numbers to contest the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls due in a few months. With almost all its 71 sitting MLAs in the 90-member House re-applying for tickets, many are expected to be challenged by their party colleagues.
Tuesday was the last day for submission of applications across the 307 blocks, but the final compilation is still in process. While some like Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Patan are the only applicants from their respective areas, applicants from seats such as Raipur South Assembly (36) are pitted against a large number of others.
From Ambikapur, which is represented by Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singhdeo, nearly a hundred applications have been received, local media claimed. (The Hindu could not independently corroborate this despite making multiple calls to the concerned). Other Ministers such as Tamradhwaj Sahu, and Mohan Markam, who till recently was a Cabinet Minister, may also see some competition, at least on paper.
A new entrant, Nand Kumar Sai, a senior tribal leader who recently quit the BJP to join the Congress, has also applied from three constituencies. In the running are mayors, nagar panchayat heads, corporators who have lost elections, and even rank outsiders such as a Chief Judicial Magistrate who quit his job to seek a ticket from Kanker.
Satyanarayan Sharma — a veteran of many terms representing Raipur (Rural) — is missing from the list of applicants as he has opted out this time. However, his son Pankaj has applied for a ticket from the same seat where again there are several contenders.
Most of those who applied came with a large number of supporters in tow to display support.
On the large number of aspirants, Mr. Baghel said that most aspirants know who is a potentially winning candidate, and when the right candidate is selected, the “other applicants are satisfied”.
Party spokesperson Dhananjay Singh Thakur, himself one of the applicants from Raipur West, said the large number reflected internal democracy within the Congress, while alleging this was missing in the BJP, which had so far named 21 candidates, including one for Mr. Baghel’s constituency of Patan.
“There is internal democracy in the Congress where everyone has the right to claim to express their will, and dissent is fully respected. From Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel to common workers, all have applied to become Assembly candidates in all the block organisations of the State — this is the beauty of democracy. BJP leaders and workers are wandering from pillar to post with applications to stake claim in the Assembly. No one is ready to take the applications. There is no such thing as democracy in the BJP,” Mr. Thakur said.
