BJP names 17 more candidates, 5 MLAs dropped after survey
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its second list of 17 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, retaining seven legislators, including minister Sharad Jain, and dropping five.
The party released its first list of candidates containing 177 names on Friday, but later made a correction, reducing the number by one. The Congress, too, has declared two lists, one on Saturday with 155 names and the second on Sunday with 16.
The state will go the polls on November 28
MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who will contest the polls from his home constituency Budhni, filed his nomination papers on Monday.
BJP MP from Morena and nephew of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Anoop Mishra, will contest the Bhitarwar assembly seat in Gwalior . Jain, the minister of state for public relations, was retained to contest the Jabalpur (north) seat. The BJP now needs to announce its candidates only for 37 seats, mostly from Malwa region, which is considered to be its stronghold.
BJP spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya said tickets were denied to five sitting MLAs on the basis of the results of independent surveys and feedback received from party workers.
The Congress is hoping to end the three-term rule of the BJP in MP. “The dropping of 20% of the sitting candidates from the two lists shows that the BJP is facing a huge anti-incumbency and are staring at defeat,” said state Congress media cell head Shobha Oza.