BJP releases first candidate list for polls in three states

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party Saturday released its first list of candidates for the Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram Assembly elections after long deliberations at a central election committee (CEC) meeting of the party.

The party announced names of 77 candidates for Chhattisgarh, 38 for Telangana and 13 for Mizoram.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who is seeking his fourth consecutive term, will contest from the Rajnandgaon seat.

Among the 77 candidates announced out of a total of 90 Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, 14 are women candidates and 14 sitting MLAs have been replaced with new names, Union Minister J.P. Nadda told reporters after the CEC meet attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

Among those fielded by the BJP include former IAS officer O.P. Chaudhary and tribal leader Ramdayal Uike, who recently left the Congress to join the party.

Chaudhary, the former Collector of Raipur, has been fielded from Kharsia constituency, while Uike will contest from Pali Tanakhar (ST) seat.

Besides, Chaudhary and Uike, the BJP named Ama Agarwal from Bilaspur, Brij Mohan Agrawal from Raipur City (South) seats.

Nadda said the BJP will also contest the Mizoram Assembly elections on 13 seats.

The party also released the list of 38 candidate for the upcoming Telangana Assembly polls.

"The party has considered the aspirations of our dedicated workers in Telangana region. Adequate representation has been given to the representatives of all communities," Nadda said.

Elections in Chhattisgarh are scheduled in two phases - on November 12 and November 20, while the polling in Mizoram and Telangana will take place on November 28 and December 7, respectively.

The counting of votes will take place on December 11.