MP Assembly Polls: Congress releases 2nd list of 16 candidates

Bhopal, Nov 4: The Congress party on Sunday released the second list of 16 candidates for polls to the 230-member state assembly slated for November 28.

The party had on Saturday declared its first list of candidates who will be contesting on 155 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.

The names of Congress state unit chief Kamal Nath and poll campaign committee in-charge Jyotiradtiya Scindia are not on the list.

They are touted to be frontrunners for the chief minister's post if the party wins.

The list of 155 names, released late Saturday night, includes that of 21 women and 24 fresh faces. It has struck a fine balance between supporters of Scindia and former chief minister Digvijay Singh, sources said.

The party, on expected lines, renominated 46 MLAs while dropping Govardhan Upadhyay, Shakuntala Khatik and Manoj Kumar, sitting MLAs from Sironj, Kerera and Kotma respectively. They have been replaced by Ashok Tyagi, Jaswant Jatav and Sunil Saraf.

The BJP stole a march on the Congress Friday by releasing its first list of 177 candidates for the assembly polls, fielding Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni seat.

The polling to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls will be held on November 28 and the counting of the votes will be held on December 11. The tenure of the Madhya Pradesh 230-member House expires on January 7, 2019. The BJP is in power in Madhya Pradesh with 166 seats in the House.