Congress releases second list with 88 nominees for Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls

With the Congress announcing its second list of 88 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, the grand old party declared all but one candidates for elections to the 230-member assembly scheduled for November 17. The special thing in the second list is that Congress has changed three names declared in the first list.

New Delhi : Congress has released the second list of candidates for Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023 late on Thursday night. While the party had approved 144 names in the first list, Congress announced the names of 88 candidates in the second list. The special thing in the second list is that Congress has changed three names declared in the first list, which include assembly segments - Pichor, Gotegaon and Datia.

The second list of Congress includes the names of nominees - Chaudhary Rakesh Chaturvedi from Bhind, Dinesh Gurjar from Morena, Rajendra Sharma from Rewa, Satyanarayan Patel from Indore-5, Satyanarayan Patel from Indore-3. The contestants are Abhishek Chowksey Chintu from Jabalpur Cantt, Pradeep Chaudhary from Dewas, Chetan Premnarayan Yadav from Ujjain South, Sunil Sharma from Gwalior, PC Sharma from Bhopal South-West, Atif Akil from Bhopal North and Pankaj from Guna.

Congress has expressed confidence in former assembly speaker Narmada Prajapati from Gotegaon assembly seat. After cutting the ticket of Narmada Prajapati, the party has given her another chance. Similarly, from Pichhore assembly seat of Shivpuri district, Congress has changed the name of Shailendra Singh and expressed confidence in Arvind Singh Lodhi.

Apart from this, Congress has also changed its candidate from Datia Assembly seat and has given a chance to Rajendra Bharti in place of Awadhesh Nayak. At present, Rajendra Bharti will be in the electoral fray against Home Minister Narottam Mishra. The names of these three candidates were not in the first list.

229 names announced so far: Actually, Congress has announced candidates in a total of 229 assemblies including the first and second lists. While 144 names were included in the first list, 88 names are included in the second list. With this, Congress has announced candidates for all but one segment for the 230-member assembly for the elections scheduled for November 17.

After the release of the second list of Congress in MP, party senior leader Kamal Nath posted on social media platform wishing all the best to all the candidates. The candidates of the Congress Party are not just standing to become MLAs, but have entered the election field to shape the future of Madhya Pradesh, he said.

"From today, let us all get involved in our duties with all our heart and soul. Let's gear up to end 18 years of misgovernance in Madhya Pradesh. Form the Congress party government in Madhya Pradesh with an overwhelming majority. Jai Congress, Vijay Congress," he said.

Targetting the second list of MP Congress candidates, BJP leader Narendra Saluja said, "Congress's second list announced in the dark of the night - fighting has started, resignations have started. State Vice President of Mahila Congress, Kavita Pandey resigned from the post after not getting ticket from Rewa. Congress is anti-women."

Elections on 17th November, counting of votes on 3rd December: Elections are to be held in MP on 17th November, while counting of votes will take place on 3rd December. Earlier, Congress had released the first list of 144 candidates for Madhya Pradesh on October 15. Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and PCC President Kamal Nath's name was also in the first list, the party has made him the candidate from Chhindwara.