Chhattisgarh Election: Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), founded by former chief minister Ajit Jogi, has released the second list of 11 candidates for the upcoming Assembly election in the state.
Polling in state will be held in two phases -- on November 7 and 17 -- and the counting of votes is scheduled for December 3.
With its second list, Ajit Jogi's party has now announced a total of 27 candidates.
Of the 11 seats, one each was reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) categories.
According to the list, sitting MLA Renu Jogi, wife of Late Ajit Jogi, has been fielded from Kota seat while her daughter-in-law Richa Jogi from Akaltara seat.
Renu Jogi won Kota seat thrice on Congress ticket (2006-bypoll, 2008 and 2013) and once as JCC (J) candidate in 2018. She had quit Congress ahead of the last assembly elections and joined her husband's party.
Meanwhile, BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Prabal Pratap Singh Judev, son of late BJP stalwart Dilip Singh Judev, from Kota where Congress' nominee is Atal Shrivastav, chairman Chhattisgarh Tourism Board.
A look at candidates fielded by JCC
Richa Jogi, wife of Amit Jogi (Ajit Jogi's only son), had unsuccessfully contested from Akaltara on JCC (J) ticket in the last elections.
JCC (J) has fielded former MLA R K Rai from Gunderdehi seat. Rai had joined JCC (J) after quitting the Congress and unsuccessfully contested from Gunderdehi in 2018.
As per the list, the other JCC (J) candidates are Jaglal Singh Dehati (Premnagar seat), Chhatrapal Singh Kanwar (Pali-Tanakhar - ST), Akhilesh Pandey (Bilaspur), Chandni Bhardwaj (Masturi - SC), Tekchand Chandra (Jaijaipur), Baba Manharan Gurusai (Kasdol), Manoj Banjare (Raipur rural) and Jaheer Khan (Bhilai Nagar).
Three women candidates feature in this list.
In 2018, JCC (J) contested in alliance with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the coalition won a total of seven seats. However, it is expected that this time, the key contest is going to be between BJP and Congress.
Amit, son of Ajit Jogi, said his party was reaching out to the Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS) and the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) for an alliance. However, the party has so far not entered into an alliance with any outfit.
The Mayawati-led BSP has entered into an alliance with the GGP.
With inputs from PTI
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