BJP's MP, Chhattisgarh first list out, 4 months early

Bhopal: In a strategic move, the BJP has unveiled its initial candidate lists for the upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, a full four months ahead of the polls.

For Madhya Pradesh, out of the total 230 Assembly seats, the party has named candidates for 39, while in Chhattisgarh, it has released the first list of contenders for 21 out of 90 Assembly seats.

Remarkably, this marks the first time that the BJP has declared its candidates for states before the official announcement of Assembly elections. Notably, the party lost all of these seats in the 2018 Assembly elections.

In the Madhya Pradesh list, the party retained 14 candidates, including four former ministers who had previously lost their Assembly seats in 2018. Additionally, new faces are being fielded in the remaining 25 seats.

A noteworthy inclusion is Raj Kumar Karye, a youth leader who recently joined the BJP from AAP, and has been swiftly given the ticket for the Lanji Assembly seat in Balaghat district.

In Chhattisgarh, all 21 Assembly seats were lost to the ruling Congress in the 2018 elections by a margin exceeding 50,000 votes. To boost its chances, the BJP has introduced new faces in 16 of these seats.

Vijay Baghel, a Lok Sabha member, will contest the Patan Assembly constituency, currently held by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in a notable development.

These early candidate declarations serve the purpose of granting sufficient time for campaigning, with the aim of securing these seats from Opposition parties. State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma noted that 14 of the initial 39 candidates for Madhya Pradesh are under 50 years of age, and the list includes some young candidates and women.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan congratulated the candidates, urging them to prove their mettle by securing victory in the upcoming polls.