Raipur
The Election Commission of India has officially announced that the by-election for the Raipur South Assembly Constituency (General) will be held on November 13, with results expected to be declared on November 23. This by-election is necessitated by the vacancy left after Brijmohan Agrawal, the BJP’s long-serving MLA and minister, was elected as a Member of Parliament.
According to the election schedule, the deadline for submitting nominations is October 25, followed by the scrutiny of those nominations on October 28. Candidates will have until October 30 to withdraw their nominations.
Sources indicate that the BJP has identified three potential candidates based on an internal survey, which will be forwarded for final approval in Delhi. Meanwhile, approximately a dozen Congress leaders are competing for their party’s ticket, and both parties are expected to announce their candidates within the coming week.
The Raipur South seat was declared vacant on June 21, following Brijmohan Agrawal’s resignation from the Assembly on June 17 after his election to Parliament. Agrawal has enjoyed a long and distinguished political career, having been elected as an MLA eight times since 1990 in the undivided Madhya Pradesh Assembly. Following the formation of Chhattisgarh, he served as the state’s Home Minister from 2003 to 2005 and held key ministerial roles in three consecutive BJP governments under former Chief Minister Raman Singh.