The BJP on Monday released its fourth list of candidates with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan fielded from his traditional seat, Budhni, for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, scheduled to take place on November 17.
The party, which has already announced candidates for 79 seats in three parts, declared names on 57 constituencies, taking the total to 136 out of 230 seats in the State.
The latest list of the BJP came soon after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the State with single-phase polling on November 17 and vote counting on December 3.
Apart from the Chief Minister, the party has also given tickets to 24 sitting Ministers of the State government, including Home Minister Narottam Mishra from Datia and PWD Minister Gopal Bhargava from Rehli.
All the 57 leaders given tickets are the sitting MLAs; however, a BJP leader said that the seats of some MLAs have been interchanged. At least six leaders who are close to Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia have gotten the party ticket, including Pradyumn Singh Tomar from Gwalior and Govind Singh Rajput from Surkhi.
Reacting to the BJP’s list, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath said that the public was “bored with these tired faces” and wants to “get rid of them”.
“In the fourth list of BJP, once again the same faces are in the fray, whom the people of Madhya Pradesh consider to be symbols of corruption. The public is bored with these tired faces and wants to get rid of them. By putting them forward, BJP has accepted defeat before the fight. This is not preparation for elections, it is preparation for farewell,” he wrote in a post on X.
Mr. Chouhan said that the names on the list were in accordance with the recommendations that had been sent by the State leadership and claimed that there was infighting in the Congress.
“We have announced candidates on 136 seats out of 230 and the remaining names will be declared soon. Now, the polls have also been announced but where is the Congress’s list? Our candidates are on the ground and the party is preparing for the polls but there has been infighting going on in the Congress,” the CM said, speaking to news agency ANI.
Mr. Chouhan said that he is going to Haridwar and Rishikesh to ruminate. “I will be back on Wednesday morning and begin the campaigning,” he said.
