Chhattisgarh Election 2018: Congress announces first list of candidates; Retains 7 legislators

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: The Congress leadership on Thursday announced the first list of candidates for the upcoming to the legislative assembly of Chhattisgarh.

Eleven out of the 12 candidates declared by the Congress are in seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes. (Image: PTI)

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: In a recent development, the Congress leadership on Thursday announced the first list of candidates for the upcoming to the legislative assembly of Chhattisgarh. The announcement of candidates is reportedly made by the Congress’ Central Election Committee (CEC) chaired by party president Rahul Gandhi. The list of 12 candidates includes Anoop Naag who has been fielded from Antagarh constituency, Manoj Singh Mandavi from Bhanupratappur, Lakheshwar Baghel from Bastar, Devati Karma from Dantewada among others. Even the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to announce its candidates this week, with the last date of filing of nomination on October 23. Eleven out of the 12 candidates declared by the Congress are in seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The senior leadership of the state Congress was in Delhi last where the screening committee held meetings on the sidelines of candidate selection. Eighteen of the 90 Assembly seats will go to polls on November 12, including Maoist-affected seats such as the Bastar range and Rajnandgaon district. The second phase of polling is on November 20. Here's is the first list of Congress for phase one of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections 2018: Antagarh (ST): Anoop Nag Bhanupratappur ST Manoj Singh Mandavi Kanker (ST): Shishu Pal Sori Keshkal (ST): Santram Netam Kondagaon (ST): Mohan Lal Markam Narayanpur (ST): Chandan Kashyap Bastar (ST): Lakheshwar Baghel Jagdalpur: Rekhchand Jain Chitrakot (ST): Deepak Kumar Baij Dantewada (ST): Devati Karma Bijapur (ST): Vikram Shah Mandavi Konta (ST): Kawasi Lakhma As per reports, Rahul Gandhi has not reconstituted the CEC but has appointed some new members to the Congress Working Committee which is the highest decision making body of the party. The Congress is trying to oust the ruling BJP government which has been in power for 15 years in the Naxal-affected state. As many as 18 Maoist-affected constituencies of Chhattisgarh will go for polls on November 12, whereas the rest 72 seats will witness polls in the second phase on November 20. Results will be announced on December 11. According to the Election Commission, there are total 1,85,45,819 voters including 92,95,301 men, 92,49,49,459 women and 1,059 third-gender voters in the state. The state has 23,632 polling booths, out of which 19,240 are in rural and 4,392 in urban areas. Out of 90 constituencies in 27 districts, 18 in 16 districts are Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected and sufficient security forces are being arranged for polls. The BJP has been ruling the state since three successive terms since 2003. During the 2013 Assembly elections, Congress won 39 seats while the BJP 49 seats.