BJP Announces First List of Candidates for Chhattisgarh, MP, Leaves out Top Leaders in Two Poll Panels in Rajasthan
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 17: For the first time even before the Election Commission of India finalised the dates of polling, the BJP has announced its candidates for some of the seats in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
More shockingly, the party set up two election panels for Rajasthan but the committees excluded the names of the three top leaders in the state, the former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, the state BJP president CP Joshi and the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly Rajendra Rathod.
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan along with Telangana and Mizoram are scheduled to go to the polls by the end of the current year, the biggest poll bout before the crucial Parliamentary elections next year.
The BJP on Thursday announced the first lists of candidates for Assembly polls in MP and Chhattisgarh. The party has announced 21 candidates for the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly and 39 for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh House.
The announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the BJP’s central election committee, the party’s decision-making body for selection of candidates and preparation of poll strategies.
The BJP leadership’s unprecedented decision to announce candidates’ names well in advance appears to be aimed at identifying friction within the ranks so that issues can be resolved well in advance.
Following the poll setback in Karnataka earlier this year, the party is in no mood for another debacle. Out of the five states going to the polls, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana are ruled by Opposition forces. In Mizoram, BJP’s ties with ally and ruling party Mizo National Front are strained in the wake of the Manipur unrest. Only in MP, the BJP returned to power from the backdoor after toppling the Congress government through defections by a group led by the current union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
One highlight in Chhattisgarh list is the name of Vijay Baghel, Lok Sabha MP from Durg. A former MLA from Patan, he has been fielded from the same seat this time. The names of former Chief Minister Raman Singh and other senior party leaders are missing from the first list. In MP also, the names of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and prominent ministers are not on the first list of candidates.
The BJP’s Chhattisgarh list comprises five women, 10 candidates from Scheduled Tribes and one from the Scheduled Castes category. For Madhya Pradesh, the party has chosen five women, eight Scheduled Caste candidates and 13 Scheduled Tribes candidates.
The party’s decision to announce the first list of candidates so early underlines the significance it has attached to five State elections, the last round of Assembly contest before the all-important Lok Sabha polls. The BJP in 2018 had won only 15 of the 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh Assembly against 68 of the Congress while its tally of seats was 109 against 114 of the Congress in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
In a big announcement notable more for its omissions than inclusions, the Rajasthan BJP has set up two committees ahead of the crucial assembly elections in the state leaving out from both the three top leaders of the party in the state.
The two other key leaders who are not on the committees are Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and former state BJP president Satish Poonia. Earlier this month, party sources had hinted at these five stalwarts collectively leading the campaign for the state elections, which are expected to be held in less than three months.
The party announced that the state election management committee will have 21 members and will be headed by former MP Narayan Lal Panchariya. The panel tasked with preparing the election manifesto will be headed by Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and have 25 members. The only other big names included in the panels are MP Kirodi Lal Meena and former Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
In the run-up to the polls, the BJP has launched several campaigns to corner the Ashok Gehlot government, especially on corruption and crime against women. While the party’s Mahila Morcha has made increasing crime an election issue, the ‘Nahi Sahega Rajasthan’ campaign is targeting the government on corruption, paper leak and farmer issues.
The biggest challenge for the BJP, however, is to find answers to the social welfare schemes of the Gehlot government, including the Right to Health Bill, the Gig Workers’ Bill and the power and gas subsidies. Buoyed by the success of the five guarantees in Karnataka, which played a key role in the Congress’ victory in the state, the Gehlot government is banking on these schemes to ensure it gets a second term in Rajasthan.
