Congress declares candidates for remaining 4 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh

The Congress on Tuesday, 27 March declared its candidates for the remaining four Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh.

With this, the main opposition party has announced candidates for all the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, which will vote in three phases in April-May. The BJP has also announced all its candidates in the state.

The four Congress candidates are Devender Singh Yadav (Bilaspur), Biresh Thakur (Kanker-Scheduled Tribe reserved), Shashi Singh (Surguja-ST) and Dr Menka Devi Singh (Raigarh-ST).

Yadav, a second-term legislator, represents the Bhilai Nagar seat in Durg district in the assembly.

Thakur's father late Satyanarayan Singh Thakur was the Congress MLA from 1972-1977 from Bhanupratappur in Kanker.

Shashi Singh is a member of the Surajpur Zila Panchayat. Her father late Tuleshwar Singh had served as a minister in the Ajit Jogi-led Congress government (2000-2003) in Chhattisgarh.

Menka Devi Singh hails from the erstwhile Sarangarh royal family. She is the daughter of Raja Nareschandra Singh, who had served as chief minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh.

Her sisters late Rajni Devi Singh and Pushpa Devi Singh had served as Congress Lok Sabha MPs in the past. Menka Devi Singh's another sister Kamla Devi Singh has been an MLA for 18 years.

The Lok Sabha polls will be held in three phases in the state on 19 April, 26 April and 7 May and votes will be counted on 4 June.

The Naxal-hit Bastar (Scheduled Tribe) constituency will alone witness polling on 19 April in the first phase of general elections and filing of nominations for the phase started on 20 March.

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