BJP on Sunday announced names of low-profile candidates for six seats for Chhattisgarh which goes to polls in three phases for 11 Lok Sabha seats. The party had announced five names earlier.
BJP has picked up a surprise face, former mayor Sunil Soni, for Raipur seat while Santosh Pandey, a die-hard supporter of former chief minister Raman Singh, for Rajnandgaon seat. Soni has replaced former union minister Ramesh Bais while Pandey in place of Abhishek Singh, son of Raman Singh.
Arun Saw, a largely unknown face, will contest from Bilaspur seat while the party has decided to bet on a small cadre Jyoti Nand Dubey for prestigious Korba seat.
BJP has done caste arithmetic better for Mahasamund seat and announced Chunnilal Sahu as party candidate to take on Congress heavyweight and former minister Dhanendra Sahu. Vijay Baghel, a close relative of Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, will be the BJP candidate for Durg seat.
BJP had won 10 out of the 11 seats in 2014 elections and it lost polls only in Durg seat. Analysts say that BJP is expected to suffer heavy defeat in Chhattisgarh in 2019.
