Chhattisgarh Elections 2023: Rahul Gandhi to campaign in poll-bound state for 2 days. Check date, schedule here

Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections News: As the election date the Chhattisgarh approaches, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be campaigning in poll-bound Chhattisgarh in 28 and 29 October. Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly will be held in two phases - on November 7 and 17.

The Congress leader will address rallies in Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Bhanupratapur on 28 October while will address a rally in Kawardha on 29 October, sources said as reported by news agency ANI.

Also Read: Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2023: Polling dates declared; voting on Nov 7 and 17, counting on Dec 3

The Congress has fielded Shankar Dhruv from the Kanker (ST) seat which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes, Girish Devangan from Rajnandgaon and Savitri Mandavi from the reserved constituency of Bhanupratappur (ST). 

Chhattisgarh's lone Muslim minister in the Bhupesh Baghel cabinet Mohamad Akbar is the Congress candidate from Kawardha. The minister was the subject of an all out attack by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during a campaign rally in Kawardha. The Assam CM had said, “When one Akbar arrives in a particular location, he brings along a hundred Akbars. Therefore, it is crucial to remove him swiftly or else the sanctity of Mata Kaushalya's land will be compromised.”

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In response to this, the Congress had also complained the Election Commission alleging that the speech had communal undertones after which show-cause notice was issued to Biswa Sarma. The commission has asked Sarma to respond to the notice by 5 pm on October 30.

The ruling party in the state, Congress, has fielded leaders like Ambica Singh Deo from Baikunthpur, Chaturi Nand from Saraipali, Ambina Markam from Sihawa and Omkar Sahu from Dhamtari. Also, Congress fielded Mahant Ram Sundar Das from Raipur South City Assembly seat against BJP stalwart Brijmohan Agrawal. Earlier on 25 October, The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had released their fourth and final list of candidates for the upcoming Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. In the final list, the BJP fielded party leader Rajesh Agarwal from Ambikapur constituency against state Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo. The party's final list has four candidates including Sushant Shukla from Beltara, Dhaniram Dhivar from Kasdol and Dipesh Sahu from Bemetara.

On the other hand, BJP's first list of 21 candidates included Lok Sabha MP Vijay Baghel, who has been fielded against Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in Patan in Durg district.

Speaking of the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress had recorded a landslide mandate, winning 68 seats of the 90 seats while the BJP finished a distant second at just 15 seats.

(With inputs from ANI)