Former chhattisgarh Chief minister Ajit Jogi’s party Janata congress chhattisgarh (J) on friday released its fifth
list of 27 candidates for the assembly elections being held in the state. The party has included former mayor
Madhu Kinnar, who belongs to the third gender, and Gorelal Burman, who contested the elections on a Congress
ticket. The party has so far announced candidates for 60 out of the total 90 seats in the state. Voting will be held in
two phases in the state on november 7 and 17. Out of 27 seats, seven are reserved for Scheduled Tribe and two for
Scheduled Caste category. On Thursday, the party has fielded Gorelal Barman, who left congress and joined JCC
(J) from Pamgarh (SC) seat. Whereas former mayor of Raigarh Madhu Bai Kinnar has been fielded from Raigarh
seat. In this election, JCC (J) is the first political party which has made a person of third gender its candidate.
Pamgarh candidate Barman had contested the 2018 assembly elections from Pamgarh on a congress ticket, but
lost. Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) candidate Indu Banjare had won the Pamgarh seat. congress has fielded woman
Sheshraj Harbans from Pamgarh. Santosh Lahere is the candidate from BJP.
Other candidates in the list include james Toppo (Sitapur), Parimal Yadav (Kharsia), Bhagat Harbans (Raipur
West), Tejeshwar Kurre (Kurrud). Along with Barman, till now four congress leaders, including a sitting MLA,
have joined JCC (J) unhappy with the ticket distribution. JCC(J) had fought the last elections in alliance with
Bahujan Samaj Party. This alliance had won seven seats. This marginalized party is struggling to remain politically
relevant this time.
Ajit Jogi, who led the congress government in the state from 2000 to 2003, formed JCC (J) in 2016 after parting
ways with the congress and contested the 2018 assembly elections in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP). Although JCC(J) could not influence the election results, it succeeded in making inroads into the politics of
the state traditionally dominated by bjp and Congress.
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