BJP releases candidate list for Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Mizoram polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released the lists of candidates contesting in the upcoming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram.

The decision was announced by Union Health Minister JP Nadda after the BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, party president Amit Shah, and several others at the BJP headquarters.

Nadda announced the names of candidates for 77 seats out of 90 in Chhattisgarh, 38 seats out of 119 in Telangana, and 13 out of 40 seats in Mizoram.

Amongst the 77 candidates contesting in Chhattisgarh, 14 candidates are women, while 25 candidates come under the age group of 40. There are 29 candidates from the Schedule Tribe category, and 10 from Schedule Cast. A total of 53 candidates are from a farming background, three are professionals and one is a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official.

Incumbent Chief Minister Raman Singh will be contesting from Rajnandgaon constituency, former IAS officer OP Chaudhary will be contesting from Kharsia constituency and current speaker of the Chhattisgarh Assembly, Gaurishankar Agarwal, will contest from Kasdol constituency.

In Telangana, amongst the contesting candidates are three women, four below 40 years of age, three from the Schedule Tribe community, six from Schedule Caste groups and nine from Other Backward Classes. There are nine candidates from farming backgrounds, three doctors, five lawyers, and a total of 12 engineers and post-graduates.

Former Member of Legislative Assembly, G Rama Krishna Reddy, will contest from Peddapalle constituency, and former MLA Babu Mohan Pally will contest from Andole constituency. Assembly elections will be held in Telangana on December 7.

In Mizoram, all the 13 candidates are from the Christian community. Single-phase Assembly polls in Mizoram will be held on November 28. Counting of votes will be done on December 11.

Nadda also said that the party has tried for a proper representation for every section of the society.