AAP releases third candidate list with 11 names for Chhattisgarh polls

The Aam Aadmi Party has now declared a total of 33 candidates in the state for the Assembly elections that will take place in two phases on November 7 and 17

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has unveiled its third list of candidates for the upcoming state Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh. The announcement came through the party's official page on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday night. The list includes 11 candidates, with one seat each reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) nominees. With this announcement, AAP, which Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal leads, has now declared a total of 33 candidates in the state.

Chhattisgarh has a 90-member assembly and is scheduled to go into polls in two phases on November 7 and 17.

In the 2018 assembly elections, AAP had contested the Chhattisgarh state Assembly polls for the first time. The party had fielded candidates in 85 out of 90 seats but failed to secure any seats. This time, the party hopes to make inroads following the decline of the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), or JCC (J), after the passing of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi in 2020.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have dominated Chhattisgarh's state elections. During the last polls in 2018, a third front emerged with the alliance of Ajit Jogi's JCC (J) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), securing a total of seven seats. The Congress won the elections by securing a majority with 68 seats, while the BJP won only 15 seats. The current Congress strength in the assembly is 71.

The BJP has announced candidates for 85 seats, while the ruling Congress is yet to announce its nominees for any of the five states going into elections next month. The elections in Chhattisgarh, along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram, are set to take place between November 7 and 30, with the vote counting scheduled for December 3, as per the Election Commission's timetable.

(With agency inputs)