#AG Vallabhan

Bhopal | The battle cry for assembly elections has started in five states including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In these states elections are to be held on November 7 and 17 in Chhattisgarh, on 17 in Madhya Pradesh and on 23 in Rajasthan with results to be declared on December 3.

Congress, which is staking claim to wrest the power from BJP in Madhya Pradesh and continue its winning trail in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan has not announced its candidates. On the other hand, BJP has released a list of 136 candidates out of a total of 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.  A list of candidates in other election states including Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan has also been announced. The BJP has fielded 43 new faces out of the 85 candidates declared so far. According to sources, the tussle between the Congress leadership and Rahul Gandhi's team over the survey in Rajasthan has put the list on hold.

When Rahul Gandhi was holding meetings regarding the preparations of Congress in the five electoral states going to be held one after the other this year, Congress had announced that the first list of candidates would come in the first week of September. Leave aside September, Congress has not been able to declare the name of even a single candidate in these three states.

On the other hand, BJP has declared several lists of election states one after the other. To make matters worse for Congress, BJP has also fielded big leaders and MPs in Madhya Pradesh. Congress, which came on the back foot due to BJP's surprising strategy, is still working on countering the challenge thrown up by BJP.

In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Congress has held a meeting of the State Election Committee and Screening Committee to select the candidates. Even the Central Election Committee meeting has been held for MP but the biggest problem is in Rajasthan. Sunil Konugolu, special election strategist of Rahul Gandhi of Rajasthan, has reported that tickets of 50 percent sitting MLAs have been cut.

On the other hand, the CM's survey team is advocating for not cutting the tickets of his supporters-MLAs. In this way, consensus is not being reached between the two factions. This is the reason why neither the State Election Committee nor the Screening Committee has met. If the delay continues, party insiders even feel that infighting would break out after the declaration of the candidates, hurting the interests of the party.

However, it has been said that the Congress party candidate list for the three states will be declared  on 15 October, the first day of Navratri.

Speaking to reporters in Beohari on Tuesday, LOP Dr Govind Sindh said the first list could be on 100-150 candidates.  “Our list is ready but we are followers of Sanatan Dharma. This is the Shraddh Pitru Paksha time and it is considered inauspicious to begin something new. Soon as Navratri starts, we will release the list,” he added.