Madhya Pradesh polls: BJP’s second list of candidates out

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its second list for the upcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.

The party has fielded 3 Union ministers.

So far, the BJP has declared candidates for 78 seats out of total 230 assembly seats. Its first list of 39 names was released in August. 

The BJP has fielded Union ministers Faggan Singh Kulaste from Niwas (ST), Prahlad Singh Patel from Narsinghpur, whose brother Jalam Singh Patel is the incumbent MLA, and Narendra Singh Tomar from Dimni. Four Lok Sabha MPs -- Rakesh Singh from Jabalpur (West), Riti Pathak from Sidhi, Ganesh Singh from Satna and Udaypratap Singh from Gadarwara— have also been fielded.

Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP general secretary will contest from Indore-1 assembly seat.

Other candidates in the list include Durgalal Vijay (Sheopur), Raghuraj Kansana (Morena), Amrish Sharma (Lahar), Mohan Singh Rathore (Bhitarwar), Imarti Devi (Dabra), Pradeep Agrawal (Sewda) and Ramesh Khatik (Karera).

The list includes candidates for four Scheduled Caste (SC) and 10 Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seats.

The party has also named Hirendra Singh (Raghogarh), Brijbihari Pateria (Deori), Arvind Pateria (Rajnagar), Shrikant Chaturvedi (Maihar), Vishwamitra Pathak (Sihawal), Dilip Jaiswal Kotma and Pankaj Tekam (Dindori).

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The BJP has fielded Gaurav Pardhi from Katangi, Natthan Shah from Junnardev, Vivek Banti Sahu from Chhindwara, Jyoti Deharia from Parasia, Gangabai Uikey from Ghoradongri, Narendra Shivaji Patel from Udaipura, Hajarilal Dangi from Khilchipur, and Madhu Gehlot from Agar.

In the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress had won 114 seats against the BJP's 109 and the former formed government under Kamal Nath.

However, in March 2020 the Kamal Nath government fell after a rebellion by MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia, paving the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan to return as CM. 

The assembly polls in the state are likely to be held at the end of this year.

(With inputs from PTI)