By IANS,
Raipur : The filing of nomination papers for the Nov 14 polls to 39 seats of Chhattisgarh’s 90-member assembly began Monday although the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress are yet to finalise their candidates.
The last date for filing nominations is Oct 27, while the date for scrutiny of nomination is Oct 29. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is Oct 31. The polls to the remaining 51 seats will be held Nov 20 and filing of nominations will begin Oct 27.
However, the two main parties of the state have not yet picked thier candidates for the first phase.
“We are in the final process of announcing candidates for majority of state’s total 90 seats, including all the 39 seats going to polls in first phase. The list is expected to be out within a day or two,” Ramesh Varlyani, state Congress spokesperson, told IANS.
BJP sources said the list for about 65 seats is almost ready and will be announced soon, while efforts are on to develop a consensus for the remaining 25 seats.
All the 12 seats in the Maoist stronghold of Bastar, which includes five districts, will go to polls on Nov 14. The election to 12 seats of Durg district, six of Rajnandgaon district, four of Mahasamund district, three of Dhamtari district and two of Kabirdharm district will also be held in the first phase.
In the present state assembly, the BJP has 52 members in the house and the Congress has 34, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have one seat each. Two seats are vacant.
The Election Commission has set up 20,952 polling stations in the state, where 15,207,734 people are eligible to vote.