Chhattisgarh Assembly elections: BJP announces first list of 21 candidates

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced its first list of candidates for the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections due later this year.

This is the first time that the BJP has announced the names of candidates even before the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the poll dates.

The BJP has announced 21 candidates for the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly. The list includes five women candidates.

Below is the list of candidates and their constituencies:

Bhulan Singh Maravi (Premnagar)

Laxmi Rajwade (Bhatgaon)

Shakuntala Singh Porthe (Pratappur)

Ramvichar Netam (Ramanujganj)

Praboj Bhinj (Lundra)

Mahesh Sahu (Kharsia)

Harishchandra Rathiya (Dharamjaygarh)

Lakhanlal Dewangan (Korba)

Pranav Kumar Marpachhi (Marwahi)

Sarla Kosaria (Saraipali)

Alka Chandrakar (Khallari)

Indrakumar Sahu (Abhanpur)

Rohit Sahu (Rajim)

Shrawan Markam (Sihawa)

Devlal Halwa Thakur (Daundi Lohara)

Vijay Baghel (Patan)

Vikrant Singh (Khairagarh)

Greta Ghasi Sahu (Khujji)

Sanjeev Saha (Mohla-Manpur)

Asharam Netam (Kanker)

Maniram Kashyap (Bastar)

The list was announced a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC), the party's decision-making body for selection of candidates and preparation of strategies.

During the meeting, which lasted for over two hours, leaders divided the seats in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh into categories to invest more resources into the seats where the ruling party was weak.

Parameters such as caste, local issues, and the party's past performance in constituencies will likely be considered for choosing candidates.

Chhattisgarh and four other states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram — are scheduled to go to polls later this year.