Bhopal: The ruling BJP on Monday announced its fourth list of 57 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections to be held on November 17. The list includes the name of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who will contest from Budhni in Sehore district.
The BJP has also fielded 24 ministers from Chouhan’s Cabinet, including Home Minister Narottam Mishra from Datia and Rajendra Shukla from Rewa.
The other ministers who have been fielded include Gopal Bhargava (Rehli), Tulsiram Silwat (Samver), Vijay Shah (Harsood), Jagdish Devra (Malhargarh), Biasahulal Singh (Anuppur), Bhupendra Singh (Khurai), Meena Singh Mandave (Manpur), Kamal Patel (Harda), Govind Singh Rajput (Surkhi), Brijendra Pratap Singh (Panna), Vishvas Sarang (Narela), Prabhuram Choudhary (Sanchi), Praduman Singh Tomar (Gwalir), Prem Singh Patel (Barwani), Om Praksh Saklecha (Javad), Arvind Singh Bhadoria (Ater), Mohan Yadav (Ujjain Dakshin), Hardeep Singh Dang (Suvasra), Rajyvardhan Singh Dattigaon (Badnawar), Bharat Singh Kushwah (Gwalior-Gramin) and Ramkishor Kanvare (Paraswada).
One of the sitting ministers — Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the sitting MLA from Shivpuri constituency of Gwalior — had announced that she would not contest the Assembly elections.
The BJP has also fielded all the four sitting MLAs from state capital Bhopal without reshuffling their seats.
Vishvas Sarang, who is a minister in CM Chouhan’s Cabinet, has been retained from Narela, Rameshwar Sharma from Huzur, Krishna Gaur, who is the daughter-in-law of ex-CM Babulal Gaur, has been fielded from Govindpura, while Visnu Khatri has been retained in Berasia.
The other sitting MLAs who have been retained are Pradeep Laria (Naryoli), Shailendra Jain (Sagar), Rahul Singh Lodhi (Khargapur), Brijendra Pratap Singh (Panna), Vikram Singh (Rampur Baghelan), Divyraj Singh (Sirmore), Sartendu Tiwari (Churhat), Manisha Singh (Jaisingh Nagar), Jay Singh Maravi (Jaitpur), Satyendra Pathak (Vijay Raghavgarh), Sandeep jaiswal (Murwara), Ajay Vishnoi (Patan), Ashok Rohani (Jabalpur Cant.), and Shushil Tiwari (Panagar).
Some other MLAs who have been given tickets are Dinesh Munmu Rai (Sivani), Yogesh Pandagre (Amla), Vijaypal Singh (Sohagpur), Rampal Singh (Silwani), Umakant Sharma (Sironj), Karan Singh Verma (Ichhawar), Sudesh Rai (Sehore), Gayatriraje Pawar (Dewas), Manoj Choudhary (Hatpipliya), Ashish Sharma (Khategon), Ramesh Mendola (Indore 2), Malini Singh Gaur ( Indore 4), Chaitanya Kashyap (Ratlam City) and Yashpal Singh Sisodia (Mandsaur).
The BJP had already released the names of 79 candidates in three lists over the past weeks.
With the fourth list released on Monday, the party has so far announced the names of 136 candidates for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
Opposition Congress is yet to announce its candidates for the November 17 Assembly elections.
The counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.
(IANS)
