BHOPAL: The ruling BJP as well as the prime opposition Congress are awaiting the end of Pitru Paksha (fortnight dedicated to ancestors) to declare candidates for the coming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.
While the BJP has so far declared candidates for 79 out of the total 230 seats through three lists, the Congress is yet to name even a single candidate.
As per sources in the two main parties, the Pitru Paksha (which isn’t considered auspicious) is followed by the Navratra (nine days dedicated to Goddess Durga) which is considered among the most auspicious periods in Hindu religion.
Owing to it, the two main players in the polls, are likely to declare their remaining lists in Navratri, which starts on October 15.
In Delhi on Saturday, the MP Congress chief Kamal Nath said, “The meeting of the party’s central election committee (CEC) has been held today. Names of possible candidates for around 140 seats were discussed, but the final decision hasn’t been taken. The candidates for those seats will be finalized in the next six to seven days.”
According to a senior state Congress leader, around 140 names have already been finalized by the party’s screening committee and have been sent to the party’s central election committee (CEC), but the final names will be made public in Navratri.
“Around 90-100 of these candidates have already been intimated by the party leadership and have already started working on the ground,” the leader, while wishing not to be named, told this newspaper.
On the other hand, the ruling BJP which is battling rising anti-incumbency of around 19 years of rule too is likely to come out with multiple lists of the remaining 151 candidates once the Navratri commences.
Importantly, the BJP had surprised all poll pundits and the opposition Congress by releasing its first list of 39 candidates on August 17. It was the first time that the ruling party had declared its list of candidates three to four months before the actual polls.
The party released its second list of 39 candidates on September 25, which again stunned all political observers, by naming seven sitting MPs, including three union ministers and the party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, as candidates mostly from the assembly seats lost in the 2018 elections.
On September 26, the party released its third list which named just one candidate.
While the party has already named seven sitting MPs as candidates in the assembly polls in its second list, party insiders claim that more sitting MPs and some more current and former union ministers could be named in the upcoming lists. Out of the 29 Lok Sabha members from the state, 28 are BJP MPs.
On September 26, the BJP sprung a surprise by coming out with a 39-strong second list of candidates for the assembly polls. The candidates included seven sitting Lok Sabha MPs, including three union ministers and the party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
With this, the ruling party named 78 candidates against the total 230 seats in the state ruled by it for the past 19 years. Earlier on August 17, the BJP had named 39 candidates in its first list for the state where polls are likely in November.
Importantly, the party hasn’t till now named its longest-serving CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan or any other leader as its CM face in MP and is contesting the polls with PM Modi’s face at the Centre.