New Delhi: The first list of candidates for the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls debars several sitting MLAs including a minister. 77 candidates for the 90 members in the Chattisgarh Assembly are in fear of losing their candidacy. 

 

As of now, 14 sitting MLAs have lost their chance to be re-nominated in the upcoming poll. Ramshila Sahu the women and girl child welfare minister, who represented Durg Rural, didn’t make it to the list and Dilip Singh Judev’s son Yudhvir, sitting MLA from Chandrapur, has replaced his wife Sanyogita.

 

The Central Election Committee of BJP has also declared 38 candidates for Telangana and 13 for Mizoram Assembly seats on Saturday. 

 

This drove the party legislators in Rajasthan to a state of panic. There is no official confirmation from the party yet, but MLAs are almost sure about losing their chance in the upcoming election.

 

BJP leader Prakash Javadekar, BJP state in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna and state BJP president Madan Lal Saini have expressed the party’s stand on the criteria for candidacy recently. They said that they are selecting candidates only on the basis of their chances of victory in the poll. The decision was based on an opinion poll that indicated that the party would face a stiff challenge from the Congress in the December 7 election.

 

The current 200-member Assembly has 161 BJP MLAs. Few of the MLAs intend to change their constituency, but this time, party election committee has restrained candidates from changing the allotted constituencies. BJP’s Rajasthan election in-charge Prakash Javadekar made his point clear to the press. They are also expecting that other official positions in the party would be given to some MLAs, who didn’t make it to the list.