Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released a list of 40 campaigners who will campaign for party candidates for phase 1 of the Chhattisgarh polls.
According to the list, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and others will campaign in the state.
Chhattisgarh has a total of 90 Assembly seats. Polling will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. The counting of votes is scheduled for December 3.
Earlier today, Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed two rallies in Chhattisgarh's Bastar division, where polling will be held in the first phase on November 7, a BJP leader said.
This was Shah's second visit to the Congress-ruled state after the announcement of election schedule.
The former BJP president, a key poll strategist of the party, earlier addressed an election rally in Rajnandgaon on October 16.
In the first phase, polling will be held in 20 assembly segments - Konta, Bijapur, Dantewada, Chitrakot, Jagdalpur, Bastar, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Keshkal, Kanker, Bhanupratappur, Antagarh, Mohla-Manpur, Khujji, Dongargaon, Rajnandgaon, Dongargarh, Khairagarh, Kawardha and Pandariya.
The remaining 70 seats will be covered in the second phase.
The ruling Congress has so far declared candidates for 83 out of the 90 seats. The opposition BJP has announced its candidates for 86 seats, including all 20 going to polls in the first phase.
The Congress registered a landslide victory in the 2018 polls, winning 68 of the 90 seats.
The BJP, which had ruled the state for 15 years (2003-2018), was reduced to 5 seats, while the JCC (J) and the BSP bagged 5 and 2 seats, respectively. The current strength of the Congress in the assembly is 71.
With inputs from PTI
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