Congress’ first list of candidates for MP assembly polls to release on October 15: Surjewala

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], October 13 (ANI): Congress leader and general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Randeep Surjewala has said that the Congress’s first list of candidates for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls will be released on the first day of Navratri, October 15.

He made the remark while speaking to the reporters after the Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting held in Delhi on Friday.

“The first list of candidates will be released on the first day of Navratri,” Surjewala said.

He also said, “A lot of seats were discussed during the meeting and there was a very positive discussion. The way the State Congress Committee President is coordinating, it shows that Congress is moving towards victory in Madhya Pradesh.”

On the other hand, former CM and State Congress Chief Kamal Nath said that they were moving at that pace so that they could announce their list on October 15.

“We have discussed about 60 seats, we will have a screening committee meeting again, only then we will finalise the list. We will announce our list after Shradh (rituals dedicated to worshipping ancestors and forefathers). We are moving at that pace so that we can announce our list on October 15,” Nath said.

Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to undergo assembly polls on November 17. Through the polls, the state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies.

The election would be conducted in one phase in the state and the counting would be done on December 3.

In the 2018 assembly elections, Congress won 114 seats with a vote share of 41.5 percent while BJP got 109 seats with a vote share of 41.6 percent. The last state assembly polls saw the Congress coming to power, with veteran leader Kamal Nath taking oath as the chief minister.

Nonetheless, a political upheaval rocked the state in 2020, after the then Congressman Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 loyalist MLAs, switched over to the saffron camp.

The Congress government fell after being reduced to a minority and the BJP formed the government, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan returning as chief minister.