Chhattisgarh election: Voting will be held in 20 seats in the first phase on November 7. Out of these seats, Congress had won 17 in 2018 elections.
Chhattisgarh goes to poll in the first of two-phased election on Tuesday. Voting will take place across 20 seats, most of them in the Naxal-hit Bastar region. Out of these seats, the Congress had won 17 in the 2018 assembly elections while the BJP could bag just two. One seat was won by the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC).
Here are the key candidates and constituencies featuring in the first phase of Chhattisgarh election.
Dr. Raman Singh (BJP)
Former chief minister Dr. Raman Singh is contesting from the Rajnandgaon assembly seat, where he has been pitted against Girish Dewangan of the Congress. The BJP veteran ruled the state for 15 years from 2003 to 2018. Singh's challenger Girish Dewangan is the party's state general secretary and is known to be close to chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.
Bhawna Bohra (BJP)
Bhawna Bohra, who will be contesting from the Pandariya seat against Congress' Neelu Chandravanshi. She is recognised for her dedication to social work and is popularly known among people as 'Ambulance Wali Didi'. Bhawna has a significant background in both social service and politics, with active involvement in the Kavardha and Bemetra districts.
Mohammad Akbar
Mohammad Akbar is also one of the key players, the only Muslim candidate in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections. He will be contesting from the Kawardha assembly constituency, where he contested for the first time in 2018 and emerged victorious against the BJP's Ashok Sahu, despite the seat having a significant population of Sahus.
Mandavi is yet another important leader who has been fielded by the Congress in the Bhanupratappur constituency against the BJP's Gautam Uike. She is the wife of late Congress MLA Manoj Mandavi, who secured a win from the seat in 2018.
After the death of Manoj Mandavi, his wife took charge of the constituency as an MLA after securing a win in the 2022 Bhanupratappur bye-elections.
Kawasi Lakhma
Congress has retained Lakhma as its candidate from Konta, who is also the incumbent MLA from the constituency. The BJP has fielded Soyam Muka from Konta.
The voting in remaining 70 seats will be held on November 17, while the counting of votes will take place on December 3.