MP polls: Cong fields Chouhan's brother-in-law

Days after he joined the Congress, Sanjay Singh Masani, the brother-in-law of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has been allotted a ticket by the party from Waraseoni assembly seat in Balaghat district.

While joining the Congress last Saturday, Masani -- the brother of Chouhan's wife Sadhna Singh -- had said the state needed a leader like Kamal Nath, who is the state's Congress president, and not Chouhan.

Waraseoni seat is currently represented by Yogendra Nirmal of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

A native of Maharashtra, Masani's name figured on the fourth list of 29 candidates released by the Congress on Wednesday.

With the latest list, the Congress has so far announced names of 213 candidates out of a total 230 seats for the November 28 elections.

In the latest list, the Congress has changed the candidature of Ashok Tyagi with Masarrat Shahid, a confidante of senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, and Hamid Kazi with Ravindra Mahajan from Sironj and Burhanpur seats respectively.

"In the first list, the name of Hamid Kazi was announced from Burhanpur, but he has himself returned the ticket due to some legal issue. So, the party has fielded Ravindra Mahajan in his place," a Congress spokesperson said.

The Congress has also allotted tickets to Pravin Pathak from Gwalior South, Preeti Agnihotri from Indore-1, Surjeet Singh Chadda from Indore-4 and Lakhan Ghanghoriya from Jabalpur (East), a party statement said.

The Congress had announced its first list of 155 candidates last Saturday, in which it re-nominated 46 MLAs. It announced the second list of 16 candidates the next day.

On Monday night, the Congress announced a third list of 13 candidates.

The announcement for the remaining 17 candidates is awaited.