Madhya Pradesh polls: BJP releases 2nd list of candidates, 3 ministers among contestants

The ruling party in the state has fielded Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar from Dimani and Union state minister Faggan Singh Kulaste from Niwas seat.

Bhopal: Ahead of Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, the BJP Monday released its second list of 39 more candidates for the elections. The ruling party in the state has fielded Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel and Phaggan Singh Kulaste, and several other party MPs for the upcoming state elections.

Along with the ministers, the MPs fielded for the polls are Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh, Riti Pathak and Uday Pratap Singh, all from Lok Sabha. BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya will contest from Indore-1. The BJP has raised the stakes for the assembly polls and underscored its determined bid to retain power in the state by fielding its Union ministers and MPs. Most of the ministers and MPs have been winning their Lok Sabha seats for multiple terms.

The BJP has named its candidates in 78 seats for the election to the 230-member assembly. The elections are likely to be held in November-December this year. The election schedule is yet to be announced. The party had released its first list of 39 candidates last month.

In the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress had won 114 seats, while the BJP got 109. However, the Congress government fell after some MLAs joined the BJP. The BJP returned to power in March 2020 with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief minister for a fresh term.