- By Ashita Singh
- Fri, 20 Oct 2023 11:13 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023: Congress on Thursday night announced its second list of 88 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls. Now, the party is left to announce a single candidate for the upcoming elections to the 230-member assembly scheduled for November 17. Congress is yet to release its candidate from the Amla seat in the Betul district.
Earlier the party had declared candidates for 144 seats but changed candidature in three seats while issuing the second list. Therefore, the total number of candidates announced in the first list stands at 141, a Congress leader said.
The party has replaced Avdhesh Nayak with senior Congress leader Rajendra Bharti in Datia from where BJP candidate and the state home minister Narottam Mishra is contesting for the fourth time. Mishra won from Datia in the 2008, 2013 and 2018 assembly elections.
The party also changed the ticket from Gotegaon (SC) seat from where it replaced Shekhar Choudhary with the sitting MLA and former Assembly Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati. The Congress leadership also replaced Shailendra Singh with Arvind Singh Lodhi from Pichhore seat in Shivpuri district in view of the protest by the party workers.
The party has fielded former minister and sitting MLA PC Sharma from the Bhopal South West constituency. The Congress has given a ticket to sitting MLA Arif Aqeel's son, Atif Aqeel from Bhopal North, despite opposition by Arif's younger brother Aamir Aqeel. The BJP has fielded former Bhopal Mayor Alok Sharma from there.
The party also fielded Ravinder Singh Tomar from the Dimni assembly seat and he will contest against Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Besides, the party has fielded BJP-turned-Congress leaders Deepak Joshi from Khategaon and Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat from Badnawar seats for the assembly polls. The single-phase polling for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held on November 17 and counting of votes will take place on December 3, along with other poll-bound states.
