BHOPAL: After days of deliberations, the Congress on Saturday declared its first list of 155 candidates for the November 28 Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.
While, the BJP denied tickets to around three dozen of its sitting MLAs in its first list, the Congress denied tickets to three sitting MLAs — Shakuntala Khatik (Karera), Manoj Agrawal (Kotma) and Govardhan Upadhyaya (Sironj).
The party, which has 57 members in the outgoing Vidhan Sabha, has given tickets again to 46 legislators but put on hold declaration of candidates for eight other seats which have sitting MLAs.
According to state Congress working president Jeetu Patwari, almost half of the 155 candidates are fresh faces.
Family members of at least four senior Congress leaders got tickets. They include ex-Union minister and present Lok Sabha member Kantilal Bhuria’s son Dr Vikrant Bhuria, fielded from Jhabua, and niece Kalawati Bhuria from the Jobat seat.
Ex-CM Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan also got a ticket again from Raghogarh, while the former CM’s ex-MP brother Laxman Singh has been fielded from Chachaura.
Contrary to the party president’s stand, three former BJP leaders, including Abhay Mishra from Rewa, Padma Shukla from Vijayraghogarh and Sanjay Sharma from Tendukheda, got tickets. In a politically crucial development, the founder of Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS) Dr Hiralal Alawa was fielded from Manawar.