Twenty eight candidates have withdrawn their names from the contest in five lok Sabha constituencies by Wednesday. Now 127 candidates are left in the fray for these seats that will go for polling on April 24, the third and last phase of election in Chhattisgarh.
Joint Chief Electoral Officer (JCEO) DD Singh informed that in Raipur constituency eight candidates have abandoned the fight leaving 36 aspirants in the field. According to sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Govind Ram Dewangan, Rajendra Todar, Ishwari Prasad Sarang, Indira Dhritlahre, Dr Kailash Adil, Vedram Gayakvad, Satyanarayan Banjare and Pratap Vaghra have quit the fight in Raipur. In Raipur there is direct fight between BJP’s sitting MP Ramesh Bais and Congress party’s Satyanarayan Sharma.
Notably, April 9 was the last day for withdrawing nominations for the third phase of election. The JCEO further detailed that in Durg 7 persons left the fight leaving behind 26 candidates. Similarly, from Bilaspur seat six candidates backed off leaving 26 candidates. In Korba, five aspirants dropped out from contesting the election. Here 24 candidates will now try their fate on April 24. Janjgir-Champa seat saw withdrawals by two candidates leaving 15 aspirants in the contest.