The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday announced its second list of candidates for the election-bound Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The party has declared 29 names for Madhya Pradesh and 12 for Chhattisgarh, having already announced its first list of 10 candidates each for both the States on September 8. The list comes days after the ruling BJP announced its second list for Madhya Pradesh.
The Congress, which rules Chhattisgarh and is the principal Opposition party in Madhya Pradesh, besides being an INDIA bloc partner of the AAP, is yet to declare any candidate for either State.
In Madhya Pradesh, the AAP has fielded Anurag Yadav from Indore-1 where the BJP has declared its national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya as its candidate. The seat is currently held by the Congress. In Bhopal Uttar, from where the Congress’ Arif Aqueel is the sitting MLA, the AAP has fielded Mohd. Saood. In Narela, a stronghold of State Minister Vishwas Sarang in Bhopal, Rahisa Begam Malik will contest on the AAP ticket.
The party has also announced a candidate from Shivpuri whose four-time, sitting MLA, State Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, has recently announced that she would not be contesting due to health issues. The Congress is likely to field Virendra Raghuvanshi, an ex-BJP MLA who recently returned to its fold, from Shivpuri while there are speculations about Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia being the BJP’s pick from this high-stakes constituency in the Gwalior-Chambal region. Former Madhya Pradesh MLA Mamta Meena, who quit the BJP three days ago after being denied a ticket from Chachaura seat in Guna, will now fight elections from there as an AAP candidate. The list also features seven candidates from reserved seats — three Scheduled Tribes and four Scheduled Caste seats. The Chhattisgarh list includes candidates from all parts of the State, including two from capital Raipur — Raipur Gramin and Raipur West.
While the AAP has made several poll promises for both States with its chief Arvind Kejriwal holding several rallies from Gwalior to Jagdalpur in Bastar, it has so far ruled out any tie-up with the Congress at the State level. In Chhattisgarh, where it has a dismal electoral record, the party is looking for a share in the “others’” pie. Despite the politics being largely bipolar and the Congress scoring a landslide win the last time, the non-Congress, non-BJP parties collectively held a significant chunk of the vote share in 2018.
