Chhattisgarh Assembly election 2023: BSP releases list of 9 candidates

Ahead of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections this year, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced its candidates for the elections on Wednesday.

In the first phase, the party announced the names of candidates for nine Assembly seats. In this, the BSP has again given tickets to two MLAs.

Keshav Prasad Chandra from Jaijaipur and Indu Banjare from Pamgarh have again been given tickets for the Assembly elections.

BSP state president Hemant Poyam said that on the direction of BSP national president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the list of nine candidates, highlighting two sitting MLAs, including a woman, for the Chhattisgarh polls was delivered.

Below is a list of names of the nine candidates:

-Dauram Ratnakar (Masturi seat: reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates)

-Omprakash Bachpayee (Nawagarh: SC reserved)

-Radheshyam Suryavanshi (Janjgir-Champa)

-Keshav Prasad Chandra (Jaijaipur)

-Indu Banjare (Pamgarh)

-Vinod Sharma (Akaltara)

-Shyam Tandon Bilaigarh (Bilaigarh: SC reserved)

-Ramkumar Suryavanshi (Beltara)

-Anand Tigga (Samri: reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates)

The BSP contested the 2018 State Assembly elections in alliance with the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).

The party had won two seats — Jaijaipur and Pamgarh — and polled 4.27 per cent votes, while its coalition accomplice JCC(J) bagged five seats and got 7.6 per cent votes.

In 2013, the party contested the Assembly elections on 90 seats. It won one seat, with 4.27 per cent votes. In 2008, the BSP contested the elections on 90 seats and won two seats.

Sarva Adivasi Samaj Chhattisgarh to field 50 candidates

Former Union Minister and president of Sarva Adivasi Samaj Chhattisgarh Arvind Neetam said that the tribal body will field 50 candidates in the upcoming elections in the state.

Neetam said the tribal people are fighting for their rights over water, forest, and land.

He further added that the tribal community in the state is dissatisfied with the government and corporate houses.

"What Baba Saheb Ambedkar has given in the Constitution or the provision made in the law (referring to tribal), somewhere exactly the opposite is being done in the state. This is a matter of serious concern, and there is a fight for existence, and tribal communities are losing dominance over water, forest, and land," he said.

Neetam said that he has written to the Election Commission to register the party and is awaiting a response.