New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released its first list of candidates for the ensuing Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. While 39 candidates were named in the first list for MP polls, 21 candidates made it to the first list for the Chhattisgarh elections.


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The candidate lists for the two poll-bound states were released a day after the BJP's Central Election Committee reviewed the party's poll preparations in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. In a meeting that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president JP Nadda, and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, those seats where the saffron party suffered a setback in previous polls came up for discussion.


Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh were also present at the key meeting.


BJP's First List Of Candidates For Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections


In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has fielded Sarla Vijendra Rawat from Sabalgarh, Priyanka Meena from Chachaoura, Lalita Yadav from Chhatarpur, Anchal Sonkar from Jabalpur Purba (SC), Nirmala Bhuriya from Petlawad, Bhanu Bhuriya from Jhabua (ST), Alok Sharma from Bhopal Uttar and Dhruv Narayan Singh from Bhopal Madhya, among others.



BJP's First List Of Candidates For Chhattisgarh Assembly Polls


In Chhattisgarh, the BJP has fielded Lok Sabha MP Vijay Baghel from Patan, Bhulan Singh Maravi from Premnagar, Laxmi Rajwade from Bhatgaon, Shakuntala Singh Porthe from Pratappur (ST), Sarla Kosaria from Saraipali (SC), Alka Chandrakar from Khallari, Gita Ghasi Sahu from Khujji and Maniram Kashyap from Bastar (ST), among others.



2018 Chhattisgarh, MP Assembly election results


In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP lost power in both Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh but succeeded in toppling the Congress government in MP. It had won only 15 of the 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh against 68 of the Congress while its tally of seats was 109 against 114 of the Congress in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.

The party had, though, swept the Lok Sabha polls in both states in 2019 as voters rallied back around its prime ministerial candidate Modi.


BJP Steps Up Poll Preparations


The BJP's decision to hold the CEC meeting so early -- which usually takes place only after poll dates are announced -- underlines the significance it has attached to the upcoming five-state polls, the last round of assembly contest before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.


Five states -- Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram -- are most likely to go to the polls in November-December this year.


The BJP currently is in power in only Madhya Pradesh and is running an intense campaign to oust the Congress government in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS in Telangana.