Hobart Hurriacanes

Both aged 76, these Congress stalwarts are at the forefront of leading their party into a fierce battle against their arch-rivals, the ruling BJP, in the upcoming November 17 Assembly election.

The grand old party has fielded 62 candidates the OBC community, which is out of 82 out of total 230 seats reserved for the Scheduled Caste the Scheduled Tribes.

The factionalism within the Congress and its spilled cadre allowed the saffron party to rule in the state for 15 years. Having no strong opposition, the state BJP leadership apparently maintained a reluctant approach over OBC demands however the scenario changed after it lost the previous election.

The list also includes Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, UP deputy CMs -- Brijesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya, many current and former MP ministers and state BJP chief V.D. Sharma. 

Highlighting the party's achievements during a poll-rally, Mishra said he has brought in a lot of developments in Datia.

The saffron party has denied tickets to 29 sitting MLAs, including three state ministers and the party's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya's son, Akash Vijayvargiya. 

The list came out late on Thursday. With this the party has declared 229 candidates for the 230-member Assembly.

As per the second list of 85 candidates released late on Thursday night, the grand-old party has decided to field Rajendra Sharma from Rewa to take on state minister Rajendra Shukla.

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch analysed the criminal, financial and other background details of all 230 sitting MLAs.

The 59-point manifesto, in which the Congress has tried to woo every section of society, was released in the presence of state unit head Kamal Nath, former Chief Minister Digvijya Singh, former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria and Rajya Saha MP Vivek Tankha.