Two former sarpanches among 11 picked from Chhattisgarh

The BJP on Saturday announced candidates for all the 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, reflecting a mix of experience and freshers. Among those named are eight-time MLA Brijmohan Agrawal, two-time MP Saroj Pandey, as well as two former sarpanches. Three of the candidates are women.

Agrawal has been fielded from Raipur, a seat being represented by party MP Sunil Soni. Agrawal currently represents Raipur South Assembly seat that he had won last year by a record margin of 67,851 votes.

Another big name is Saroj Pandey, who went to the Lok Sabha in 2009 and became a Rajya Sabha member in 2018. She was also the national secretary of BJP. Pandey has been fielded from Korba currently being represented by Jyotsna Mahant of the Congress.

The party has picked former sarpanch Kamlesh Jangde from Janjgir Champa reserved seat over sitting MP Guharam Ajgalley. Another former sarpanch, Mahesh Kashyap, will contest from Bastar reserved seat. Kashyap is also the chief of the tribal cell of BJP for Bastar.

While three BJP Lok Sabha members Arun Sao, Gomati Sai and Renuka Singh contested and won the Assembly elections, the party has dropped four sitting MPs and retained only two — Vijay Baghel and Santosh Pandey.

Vijay Baghel is the nephew of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Roopkumari Choudhari, a former MLA, has been fielded from Mahasamund seat.