Chhattisgarh: BJP releases 3rd, denies ticket to two sitting MLAs

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday released its third list of 11 candidates for the upcoming Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, with the party denying tickets to two more sitting MLAs.

With this list, the BJP has announced 89 candidates for the 90-seat Assembly and the only seat where the party is yet to nominate its candidate is Raipur (North), represented by Shrichand Sundrani. 

The party has declined tickets to 16 sitting MLAs so far, with 14 of them having been left out in the first list.

The two MLAs denied tickets on Monday are Ram Lal Chouhan from Saraipalli and Rupkumari Choudhry from Basna. In place of Chouhan, the party has fielded Shyam Tandi, while Choudhry has been replaced by D.C. Patel.

As per the list finalised by the BJP's Central Election Committee, the party has fielded Vijay Pratap Singh from Premnagar, Ramkishun Singh from Ramanujganj, Kashi Sahu from Kota, Kailash Sahu from Jaijaipur, Poonam Chand from Mahasamund, Tesu Dhurendhar from Baloda Bazar, Pawan Sahu from Sanjari Balod and Deepak Sahu from Gunderdehi.

The party has decided to retain Vidhyaratan Bhasin from Vaishali Nagar.

Earlier, the BJP had announced its first list of 77 candidates and had denied tickets to 14 sitting MLAs. In the second list, the party announed one candidate from Bastar where it fielded Shubhau Kashyap.

Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh are scheduled in two phases on November 12 and November 20. The counting of votes will take place on December 11.