The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made significant announcements on Saturday, revealing it has chosen candidates for all 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh. The decision saw the exclusion of four sitting MPs while introducing an incumbent state minister into the mix.
The list unveiled three women leaders, among them a former Member of Parliament (MP) and a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).
According to the PTI, of the 11 candidates, three hail from Other Backward Classes (OBC), four belong to tribal communities, and one represents the Scheduled Caste (SC) community. While the BJP refrained from offering tickets to sitting MPs in Raipur, Mahasamund, Kanker, and Janjgir seats, it did renominate Vijay Baghel and Santosh Pandey for the Durg and Rajnandgaon constituencies, respectively.
The finalised candidates include Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur seat), Santosh Pandey (Rajnandgaon), Vijay Baghel (Durg), Chintamani Maharaj (Surguja), Radheshyam Rathiya (Raigarh), Tokhan Sahu (Bilaspur), Mahesh Kashyap (Bastar), Bhojraj Nag (Kanker), and three women candidates - Saroj Pandey (Korba), Kamlesh Jangde (Janjgir), and Rupkumari Choudhary (Mahasamund).
Agrawal, a longstanding eight-time MLA and a prominent face within the party, currently serves as a minister in the Vishnu Deo Sai government. His consistent winning streak in assembly elections since 1990 and previous ministerial roles underscore his political acumen.
Although the BJP retained sitting MPs Vijay Baghel (Durg) and Santosh Pandey (Rajnandgaon), their backgrounds and influence within the party vary significantly.
Vijay Baghel, a respected leader of the Kurmi community, previously contested the assembly elections against the then Chief Minister of the ruling Congress, Bhupesh Baghel, showcasing his resilience in the political arena. Pandey, on the other hand, boasts a strong foothold in the party's state organisation, with roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The BJP's strategic candidate deployment extends to the inclusion of Chintamani Maharaj, a defector from the Congress, who is now contesting from the Surguja parliamentary seat. Maharaj, a two-term former MLA, is the son of the late Sant Rameshwar Gahira Guru, a prominent social worker renowned for his influence among tribals in north Chhattisgarh.
Emphasising diversity, the BJP has nominated candidates from various backgrounds and regions, highlighting inclusivity in its electoral strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh.
Notably, like Vijay Baghel, three more BJP MPs - Arun Sao (Bilaspur), Renuka Singh (Surguja), and Gomti Sai (Raigarh) - successfully transitioned from assembly to parliamentary roles in last year's elections. Sao was appointed Deputy Chief Minister in the state after the BJP assumed power. Radheshaym Rathiya, the nominee for the Raigarh seat, is a fresh face in the electoral arena, having represented panchayat bodies in the past. Saroj Pandey, a prominent female leader of the BJP whose term as a Rajya Sabha member recently concluded, has been nominated for Korba. Pandey previously served as a Lok Sabha member from Durg and as an MLA.
Former MLAs Rupkumari Chaudhary and Bhojraj Nag are the party's candidates for Mahasamund and Kanker seats, respectively. Kamlesh Jangde (Janjgir seat) and Mahesh Kashyap (Bastar) are also new faces in the electoral fray.
Of the eleven constituencies in the state, four - Surguja, Bastar, Raigarh, and Kanker - are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, while Janjgir-Champa is reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category.