Day after marathon meeting of Congress' CEC, Kamal Nath meets Kharge to discuss candidates

New Delhi, Oct 19

A day after Congress' central election committee (CEC) held deliberations for over five hours in two rounds, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and state unit chief Kamal Nath met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to give a final shape to the list of candidates.

According to party sources, Kamal Nath arrived at the residence of Kharge at 10 Rajaji Marg here. The source said that both the leaders were holding deliberations over deciding the second list of the party for the November 17 polls.

The meeting of the two leaders comes a day after Kharge chaired a meeting of the CEC in two rounds to finalise the candidates for the crucial Assembly election in the state.

The source said that most of the seats were discussed during the two round meeting on Wednesday, however, some more names were left to be discussed.

The Congress has already named 144 candidates for the 230-member Assembly on Sunday, which included the names of Kamal Nath from Chhindwara Assembly seat, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh from Raghogarh Assembly seat.

The Congress has fielded actor Vikram Mastal, who played Lord Hanuman'a role in Anand Sagar's 2008 TV show Ramayana, against CM Chouhan from Budhni seat, while Sanjay Shukla will be contesting against BJP’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya from Indore 1.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) Govind Singh has been fielded from the Lahar Assembly seat and former LoP Ajay Singh (Rahul) from Churhat in Sidhi district. The Congress has fielded Avdhes Nayak against the state home minister, Narottam Mishra from Datia seat.

The Congress has fielded senior party leader Ramkishor Dange against state agriculture minister Kamal Patel from Dhar Assembly constituency. Former minister Jitu Patwari has been given ticket from Rau seat of Indore district, while the party has fielded former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria’s son Vikrant Bhuria from Jhabua seat.

Out of 144 candidates in the first list, the Congress has fielded 47 general candidates and 39 OBC candidates.