BJP to field 43 new faces in Chhattisgarh Assembly elections: Report

Raipur, Sept 23: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking to grab 65 seats in the Chhattisgarh state Assembly in the upcoming elections this year. According to a report in Naidunia, the party is planning to field new faces in as many as 43 seats in the elections. The BJP won 49 out of 90 seats in the 2013 Assembly election in the central Indian state.

In a meeting of the BJP officials, it has been decided that to beat the anti-incumbency against the Raman Singh government, 21 MLAs, who have found to be weak, will not be given tickets in the next election. Even three ministers could find themselves denied of tickets if the decision of the core group is approved by the BJP's central leadership, the report said. If this happens, it will be the first time that the saffron party's ministers could face an ouster.

In the 2013 Assembly elections, five ministers of the Singh government faced defeat. Citing the party's highly placed sources, the Naidunia report said those five ministers had a negative feedback about them at all levels but they were not denied poll tickets because the party feared that their ouster could put the entire government's performance under public scanner.

Amit Shah doing everything to see BJP winning again

But BJP president Amit Shah is not sparing any effort to see his party winning its fourth consecutive term. It has been decided that the ministers and MLAs will be ranked on a four-point grade and those who get below 'B' grade might not feature in the elections this year. Naidunia cited indications that say that while 28 MLAs out of 49 have received 'A' and 'B' grades, 16 have received 'C' and five got 'D' grades.