Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: Ahead of the much crucial Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections which is scheduled to take place next month, the Congress has fielded former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla from Rajnandgaon Assembly constituency against BJP candidate and chief minister Raman Singh. The revelation was done by Congress while releasing its second list of candidate for the first phase elections for the remaining six constituencies. Chhattisgarh will go for Assembly polls in two phases - in first phase on November 12 only 18 naxal-affected seats will go to polls, while in the second phase on November 20, rest of the 72 constituencies will witness voting. The results will be announced on December 12. The notification for the first phase will be issued on October 16, while the last date for nominations is October 23. The scrutiny of the nomination papers would take place on October 24 and the last date for the withdrawal of the nominations is October 26.

Shulka is a former MP from Janjgir Lok Sabha constituency who left the BJP ahead of assembly polls in 2013 and joined the Congress next year, alleging that she was sidelined by the state BJP leadership. Speaking to news agency PTI, Congress state communication wing chief Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said, “Shukla had been active in Rajnandgaon after joining the Congress. She is a strong candidate who will not only give a tough fight to Raman Singh but will also defeat him.”

After parting ways with her parent party, Shulka had been critical of the Raman Singh government and after joining the Congress party she had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Bilaspur constituency where is lost from BJP’s Lakhanlal Sahu.

The candidates for remaining 72 seats that will go to polls in the second phase are yet to be declared by the Congress. BJP, on the other hand, has announced candidates for as many as 78 seats including 18 going for polls in the first phase. BJP has been ruling the state since 3 successive terms since 2003.