Congress releases 3rd list of 37 candidates for Chhattisgarh polls

The Congress here on Saturday released the third list of 37 candidates for the two-phased assembly polls in Chhattisgarh after a Central Election Committee meeting.

Among the 37 candidates announced, three are women.

With this, the Congress has named 55 candidates. The Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly has 90 seats.

Among those fielded by the Congress include Vinay Jaiswal from Manendragarh, Khelsai Singh from Premnagar, T.S. Singh Deo from Ambikapur, Amarjieet Bhagat from Sitapur (ST), Satyanarayan Sharma from Raipur rural, and Vikas Upadhyay from Raipur City West Assembly seat.

The party had on October 18 and October 22 released a list of 12 and six candidates, respectively.

On October 13, in a major setback to the Congress in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, the party's state Working President and a key tribal leader Ramdayal Uike joined the BJP.

The Congress is out of power in the mineral-rich state since 2003.

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.

--IANS

aks/shs