Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced its first lists of candidates for the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly polls which are scheduled for later this year. It is to be noted here that this is for the first time the BJP has announced the names of candidates even before the Election Commission of India announces the poll dates.The decision has been taken during the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Chhattisgarh election in charge Om Prakash Mathur, co-in charge Mansukh Mandviya and former Chief Minister Raman.The party has released the list of 21 candidates for the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly, which includes the name of five women candidates including Laxmi Rajwade, Shakuntala Singh Porthe, Sarla Kosaria, Alka Chandrakar, and Geeta Ghasi Sahu.BJP releases first list of candidates for the upcoming #Chhattisgarh Assembly elections pic.twitter.com/5vgxaQxgRu— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 17, 2023Meanwhile, the party has also declared the names of 39 candidates for the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh Assembly.The statement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a meeting of the BJPs central election committee, the organisation responsible for making decisions about candidate choice and the development of electoral strategy.According to the sources, the names have been announced in advance to identify the friction among the ranks and resolve the issue well in advance. Notably, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are among the five states that are scheduled for the assembly polls this year. And BJP does not want another debacle that they have faced in Karnataka.Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will also go under polls this year.Chhattisgarh BJP list comprises of five women, 10 candidates from Scheduled Tribes and one from the Scheduled Castes category. On the other hand, the party has chosen five women, eight Scheduled Caste candidates and 13 Scheduled Tribes candidates for Madhya Pradesh.
