BJP clears 115 names for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls

New Delhi, Oct 31 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday released its first list of 115 candidates for next month's assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, where it is in power, naming 14 ministers and 49 other sitting legislators.

The list was cleared at a meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee chaired by party president Rajnath Singh.

The list, however, does not contain the name of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The ministers named in the list are Jayant Malaya (Damoh), Kusum Mahadale (Panna), Ramakant Tiwari (Teothar), Nagendra Singh (Gurh), Gaurishankar Sejwar (Sanchi), Karan Singh Verma (Eechawar), Tukojirao Pawar (Dewas), Deepak Joshi (Hatpipilia), Vijay Shah (Harsood), Antar Singh Arya (Senghwa), Nirmala Bhuriya (Petlawad), Ranjana Baghel (Manawar), Himat Kothari (Ratlam Nagar) and Jagdish Deora (Malhargarh).

The list also features seven women.

Apart from Mahadale and Baghel, they are Meena Singh (Manpur), Pratibha Singh (Bargi), Nandini Marawi (Sehore), Shashi Thakur (Lakhnadaon) and Gita Ramjilal Udke (Ghodadongari).

Elections to the 231-member assembly will be held Nov 27.

The BJP also cleared the name of Pandurang Sawant for the Lok Sabha by-election from Goa's Paolo constituency.