The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its second list of 39 candidates for the crucial Madhya Pradesh Assembly election slated to be held later this year.

The second list comes after the party’s Central Election Committee held a meeting in New Delhi, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Also Read: Madhya Pradesh Election 2023: Full list of BJP candidates and constituencies

Three central ministers have found a place on the list — Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been fielded from the Dimani constituency, Minister of State (MoS) for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel from Narsingpur constituency and Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste will be contesting from Niwas constituency.

In its list of 39 candidates, the BJP also fielded its national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya from Indore-1 seat.

The party has fielded MPs Ganesh Singh from Satna, Riti Pathak from Sidhi constituency and Uday Pratap Singh from Gadarwara seat. The second BJP list comprises six women candidates, 10 candidates from Scheduled Tribes and 4 from the Scheduled Castes category.

Also Read: Chhattisgarh Election 2023: Full list of BJP candidates and their constituencies

The saffron party had released the first list of candidates back in August. In Madhya Pradesh, ground reports and surveys have indicated tough fights between the ruling BJP and the Congress.

Madhya Pradesh is one of five states, along with Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram, which are scheduled to go to poll later this year. Only one of these states has a BJP government.

In the last assembly election in 2018, the Congress came to power and formed the government with senior leader Kamal Nath as the Chief Minister. However, the BJP formed the government in 2020 after then Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 MLAs, switched sides.

Here is the second list of BJP candidates

Faggan Singh Kulaste from Niwas (ST)
Prahlad Singh Patel from Narsinghpur
Narendra Singh Tomar from Dimani
Rakesh Singh from Jabalpur (West)
Riti Pathak from Sidhi
Ganesh Singh from Satna
Udaypratap Singh from Gadarwara
Kailash Vijayvargiya from Indore-1
Durgalal Vijay from Sheopur
Raghuraj Kansana from Morena
Amrish Sharma from Lahar
Mohan Singh Rathore from Bhitarwar
Imarti Devi from Dabra
Pradeep Agrawal from Sewda
Ramesh Khatik from Karera
Hirendra Singh from Raghogarh
Brijbihari Pateria from Deori
Arvind Pateria from Rajnagar
Vishwamitra Pathak from Sihawal
Dilip Jaiswal from Kotma
Pankaj Tekam from Dindori
Gaurav Pardhi from Katangi
Natthan Shah from Junnardev
Vivek Banti Sahu from Chhindwara
Jyoti Deharia from Parasia
Gangabai Uikey from Ghoradongri
Narendra Shivaji Patel from Udaipura
Hajarilal Dangi from Khilchipur
Madhu Gehlot from Agar
Arun Bhimawat from Shajapur
Nanda Brahmane from Bhikangaon
Antar Singh Patel from Rajpur
Shyam Barde from Pansemal
Kalsingh Bhanwar from Thandla
Sardar Singh Medha from Gandhwani
Manoj Patel from Depalpur
Tejbahadur Singh from Nagda-Khachrod
Sangeeta Charel from Sailana
Shrikant Chaturvedi from Maihar