The Congress on Sunday released the first list of candidates for the forthcoming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana. This comes days after the Election Commission announced the schedule of elections for these three states along with Rajasthan and Mizoram.
The release of the first list comes in the wake of the grand old party’s poll panel holding a series of meetings at the party headquarters to discuss the names of the candidates. The panel has selected the candidates.
According to a communique issued by the Congress general secretary in charge of organization, KC Venugopal, the party’s poll panel released the names of 30 candidates for the Chhattisgarh election.
Among the prominent candidates included are the chief minister, Bhupesh Baghel, and the deputy chief minister, TS Singh Deo. The Congress has fielded Baghel from his home turf Patan and Deo from his home turf Ambikapur.
Out of the 144 candidates announced for the Madhya Pradesh assembly election included former chief minister and state Congress president, Kamal Nath. The Congress fielded Nath as its nominee from Chhindwara seat.
Among the prominent names out of the 55 candidates announced for Telangana are state Congress chief Anumula Revanth Reddy and CLP leader Bhatti Vikramamarka Mallu. The party fielded Reddy from Kodangal and Mallu from Madhira assembly seats.
Voting will be held in a single phase in Madhya Pradesh on November 17, Telangana on November 30, while Chhattisgarh will witness two-phase voting on November 7 and 17.
There are 90 assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, 119 in Telangana, 200 and 230 constituencies in Madhya Pradesh.
The upcoming polls are expected to witness a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, while the battle in Telangana is likely to be a three-cornered one with the ruling Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) taking on the Congress and the BJP.
The counting of votes will take place on December 3.