MP Polls 2023: Congress Releases First List Of Candidates, Kamal Nath To Contest From Chhindwara

The Congress has released its first list of candidates for the Madhya Pradesh elections. Former chief minister Kamal Nath has been fielded from the Chhindwara seat.

The Congress has released its first list of candidates for the MP polls and fielded former CM and state party chief Kamal Nath from Chhindwara ( Image Source :PTI )

The Congress on Sunday released the first list of 144 candidates for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023. The party has fielded former chief minister and state Congress chief Kamal Nath from the Chhindwara seat. The party has repeated many of the sitting MLAs in the first list.

It has fielded Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh's son Jaivardhan Singh from Raghogarh and brother Lakshman Singh from Chachoura in Guna, both sitting legislators, while Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Govind Singh has been fielded from Lahar constituency in Bhind district.

Meanwhile, the party has pitted actor Vikram Mastal against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni in Sehore district. Mastal has played the role of Lord Hanuman in a TV serial.

Former BJP MP Bodh Singh Bhagat, who recently joined the Congress, has been fielded from Katangi in Balaghat district.

The first list of Congress candidates also includes former ministers Ajay Singh (Churhat), Ramnivas Rawat (Vijaypur), Lakhan Singh Yadav (Bhitarwar), Harsh Yadav (Deori), Mukesh Nayak (Pawai), Kamleshwar Patel (Sihawal), Lakha Ghanghoriya (Jabalpur-East), Tarun Bhanot (Jabalpur-West), Omkar Singh Markam (Dindori), Sukhdev Panse (Multai), Sajjan Singh Verma (Sonkatch), Vijay Laxmi Sadho (Maheshwar), Sachin Yadav (Kasrawad), Bala Bachchan (Rajpur), Jitu Patwari (Rau), Priyavrat Singh (Khilchipur) and Narendra Nahta (Manasa).

The candidates served as ministers either during the previous Kamal Nath government or the Digvijaya Singh-led regime of the Congress in the state earlier.

In Bhopal, the party has fielded Manoj Shukla from the Narela seat, sitting MLA Arif Masood from Bhopal Central and Jaishri Harikiran from Berasia.

In Indore city, the Congress has given ticket to sitting MLA Sanjay Shukla from the Indore-1 seat, where the BJP has fielded its national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.

The Congress has fielded Chintamani Choukse Chintu from Indore-2 and Raja Mandhwani from Indore-4.

The ruling BJP has so far announced the names of its 136 candidates, including seven Lok Sabha members. These include three Union ministers - Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

The 230-member assembly will vote in a single phase on November 17 as the BJP fights to retain power in the state and the Congress aims at a comeback. 

While the BJP is pinning its hopes on PM Modi's appeal, Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal is pulling all stops to ensure an impressive performance in the state.

In the November 2018 polls, the Congress had won 114 seats, while the BJP finished second with 109.

Even though Nath led the Congress to power last time and became the Chief Minister, he could not complete his term due to a rebellion by MLAs supporting now Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.