Assembly elections: BJP announces candidates for Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Mizoram polls

Raipur, Oct 20: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced 77 candidates for the upcoming election to Chhattisgarh's 90-member Assembly.

Senior BJP leader JP Nadda, who announced the list of after the party's CEC-its highest decision-making body-held a meeting, said his party had made "an effort to include people from all background."

Among the 77 candidates announced out of a total of 90 Assembly segments, 14 are women candidates and 14 sitting MLAs have been replaced with new names, Nadda said.

The list was finalised at the BJP's central election committee meeting that was chaired by party president Amit Shah and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.

Former IAS officer OP Chaudhary will be contesting from Chhattisgarh's Kharsia constituency, while Chief Minister Raman Singh will be contesting from Rajnandgaon.

The BJP had won 49 seats in the previous assembly polls in 2013, Congress 39, BSP and Independent one each in the 90-member House. Chhattisgarh will go to polls in two phases on November 12 and November 20.

Telangana and Mizoram

Nadda also released a list of 38 candidates for Telangana Assembly elections and 13 candidates for Mizoram Assembly elections.The 40-seat Mizoram Assembly will go to poll in a single phase on November 28.

Elections in Telangana will be held in a single-phase on December 7.

The counting of votes for the above-mentioned states will be held on December 11.

Earlier in the day, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party had also released its second list of 12 candidates. The party has forged an alliance with former chief minister Ajit Jogi's Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and the Communist Party of India, and will contest 33 Assembly seats.