Cong, BSP announce first list of Chhattisgarh candidates

NEW DELHI: The Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party on Thursday released their first list of candidates for the first phase of assembly elections in Chhattisgarh on November 12. Seven sitting MLAs figure in the Congress’s list for the 12 seats which lie in the Naxal-affected Bastar region. The Central Election Committee of the party announced the names of 12 candidates in Delhi, Chhattisgarh Congress’s communication wing head Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said. The Congress is out of power in the state for 15 years. The BSP named six candidates in its list. The BSP ally Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) of former chief minister Ajit Jogi has released another list of seven candidates. Jogi has been nominated as the CM candidate of the alliance. The state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is yet to come out with the list of its candidates.