Regional outfit GGP releases first list of 10 Lok Sabha candidates in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Mar 26 (PTI) The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), a regional outfit with pockets of influence in Chhattisgarh, on Tuesday released its first list of candidates for 10 of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, a party leader said.

Candidates for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh have been announced and discussion on the nominee for the remaining one seat Kanker (Scheduled Tribe reserved) was underway, the party's president and MLA Tuleshwar Singh Markam told PTI.

As per the list, Dr LS Uday has been fielded from Surguja (ST) seat, Madan Gond from Raigarh (ST), Manharan Lal Bhardwaj from Janjgir-Champa (Scheduled Caste reserved), Shyam Singh Markam from Korba, Nandkishore Raj from Bilaspur, Naresh Kumar Motghare from Rajnandgaon, Manharan Singh Thakur from Durg, Lalbahadur Yadav from Raipur, Mohd Fareed Kureshi from Mahasamund and Tikam Nagvanshi from Bastar (ST), he said.

The GGP has not yet won a Lok Sabha seat in the state.

Polls will be held in three phases in the Naxal-affected state on April 19, April 26 and May 7 and votes will be counted on June 4.

The GGP contested the last year's Chhattisgarh assembly elections in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), but the outfit is going it alone in the Lok Sabha polls. It managed to win just one seat - Pali Tanakhar -- its first victory since the formation of the state in November 2000, in the last assembly polls, while the Mayawati-led party drew a blank.

The BSP has so far announced candidates for two Lok Sabha seats - Janjgir-Champa and Bastar.

The Naxal-hit Bastar constituency alone will witness polling on April 19 in the first phase for which filing of nominations started on March 20.

Three constituencies, Kanker (ST), Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund, will vote on April 26 in the second phase, while the remaining seven seats - Surguja (ST), Raigarh (ST), Janjgir-Champa (SC), Raipur, Durg, Korba and Bilaspur -- will witness polling on May 7 in the third and last round. PTI TKP RSY