Opposition Congress on Tuesday announced the candidature of its youth leader Akash Sharma for the next month's bypoll to Raipur City South assembly seat in Chhattisgarh.
The seat fell vacant after sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator and former state minister Brijmohan Agrawal resigned following his election to the Lok Sabha from Raipur parliamentary constituency.
"Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the name of Akash Sharma as the Congress candidate for the ensuing bye-election to the Raipur City South constituency," the party's state spokesperson said here. Sharma, the incumbent president of the state unit of the Youth Congress, has served as the state president of National Students' Union of India (NSUI), a student wing of Congress, in the past, he said. According to political experts, fielding a young face in the form of Sharma may benefit Congress in Raipur City South seat, considered as the stronghold of the BJP. The ruling BJP has fielded its former MP Sunil Soni for the bypoll. The BJP has never lost Raipur City South, an urban constituency which came into existence in 2008. So far, this seat is being held by BJP's influential leader Brijmohan Agrawal. Agrawal, an eight-term legislator, was unbeaten since 1990 in assembly polls.
The BJP fielded him in the last Lok Sabha polls and he was elected as an MP for the first time. Polling to the seat will be held on November 13 and the counting of votes will take place on November 23. October 25 is the last day of filing of nominations for the bypoll. In the last year's assembly elections, the BJP had registered a landslide victory winning 54 out of the 90 seats in the state, while the Congress had won 35 and Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) bagged one seat. There are 2,70,936 electors, including 1,33,713 males, 1,37,171 females and 52 transgenders in this constituency.
A total of 253 polling booths have been set up for the bypoll and five companies of security personnel will be deployed to maintain law and order during the election, officials said.
