Chhattisgarh polls: Congress fields Vajpayee's niece against CM Raman Singh

The Congress on Monday released its second list of six candidates for the Chhattisgarh assembly elections fielding the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla.

A former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, Shukla will be contesting from Rajnandgaon the home constituency of Chief Minister Raman Singh. She represented Janjgir constituency in the 14th Lok Sabha and joined the Congress before the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

With this, the Congress has named all the candidates for the 18 constituencies that go to the polls in the first phase on November 12.

The others in the list are Girwar Janghel from Khairagarh, Bhuneshwar Singh Baghel from Dongargarh, Daleshwar Sahu from Dongargaon, Channi Sahu from Khujji and Indira Shah Mandavi from Mohla Manpur.

The party on October 18 had released its first list of 12 candidates.

The first phase of polling is spread across Maoist-affected districts of Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Sukma, Kondagaon, Kanker, Narayanpur and Rajnandgaon.

Elections for the 90-member assembly will be held in two phases -- November 12 and November 20. The results will be declared on December 11.