Chhattisgarh assembly polls: Congress releases 3rd list of 37 candidates

RAIPUR: Opposition Congress on Saturday released its third list of 37 candidates for next month’s assembly polls, mostly re-nominating its sitting legislators and introducing new faces in its win the election after a span of 15 years.
State Congress president Bhupesh Baghel has been re-nominated to contest from the Patan seat while leader of the opposition in the Vidhan sabha TS Singhdeo will seek re-election from Ambikapur in north Chhattisgarh.Former union minister Dr Charandas Mahant has been fielded from Sakti constituency. The three leaders are among the frontline leaders of state Congress, who are considered as aspirants for chief ministership in the event of Congress wresting power from the BJP.
As per the list, 16 sitting legislators have been given party tickets to seek re-election while the party has introduced new faces from many constituencies which it had lost during the last elections. Tickets of six sitting legislators are yet to be announced. The candidate for Kota from where former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s wife is a sitting legislator has not been finalised.
Congress' central election committee (CEC) has been deliberating on the possible candidates for the past couple of days as the ruling BJP had already announced the name of 78 candidates in its first list.
The candidates are Dr Vinay Jaiswal (Mahendragarh) Khel Sai Singh ( premnagar), Parasnath Rajwade (Bhatagaon), Prem Sai Singh Tekkam (Pratapur-ST), Brihaspati Singh (Ranmanujganj –ST), TS Singhdeo (Ambikapur), Amarjeet Bhagat (Sitapur-ST), Vinay Kumar Bhagat (jashpur-ST), Uttamdan Minj ( Kunkuri-ST), Rampukar Singh (pathalgaon-ST), Uttari Jangade (Sarangarh-SC), Umesh Patel ( Kharasia), Laljit Singh Rathia (Dharamjaigarh-ST), Shyamlal Kanwar (Rampur-ST), Jaisingh Agrawal ( Korba), Gulab Singh Raj (Marwahi-ST), Shatrughanlal Chandrakar (Lormi), Rakesh Patre (Mungeli-SC), Dilip Lahare (Masturi-SC) , Chunnilal Sahu (Akaltara), Charandas Mahant (Sakti), Ramkumar Yadav (Chandrapur), Shakuntala Sahu (Kasdol), Sunil Maheshwari (Bhatapara), Satya Narayan Sharma ( Raipur rural), Vikas Upadhyaya ( Raipur city west) Dr Shiv Deheria (Aarang-SC), Dhanendra Sahu (Abhanpur), Amitesh Shukla (Rajim), Sanjay Netam (Bindranavagarh-ST), Bhupesh baghel (Patan), Pratima Chandrakar (Durg rural), Arun Vora (Durg city), Devendra Yadav (Bhilai nagar), Guru Rudrakumar ( Ahiwara), Ravindra Choubey (Sajja) and Mohmmad Akbar (Kawardha).