The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced the first list of 77 candidates for Chhattisgarh Assembly elections scheduled to be held next month. Former IAS officer OP Chaudhary will be contesting from Chhattisgarh's Kharsia constituency, Union minister JP Nadda told reporters after BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting in Delhi.
Among the 77 candidates announced out of a total of 90 Assembly segments, 14 are women candidates and 14 sitting MLAs have been replaced with new names, Union minister J P Nadda said.
The list was finalised at the BJP's central election committee meeting that was chaired by party president Amit Shah and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.
Among those fielded by the BJP include former IAS officer O P Chaudhary and tribal leader Ramdayal Uike, who recently left the Congress and joined the BJP.
Chhattisgarh will go to polls in two phases on November 12 and November 20. The votes will be counted on December 11.
The BJP also released a list of 38 candidates for the Telangana Assembly polls. There are a total of 119 Assembly candidates in the state.
The party also released a list of 13 candidates for the Assembly polls in Mizoram.
