BJP President files nomination

     Raipur, March 23, 2009: BJP State President Vishnu Dev Sai and sitting Congress MP Devwrat Singh were the first one among the 12 candidates who filed their nominations immediately after the notification for the April 16 Lok Sabha election was issued today.

    Three candidates each from Independent, BJP, Congress, one each from BSP, CPI and CPM had filed their nominations, state Election office sources said.

    When Sai filed his nomination from Raigarh (ST), former MLA Chandulal Sahu filed his papers from Mahasamund and Kamla Devi Patle from Janjgir-Champa seat as BJP candidates.

     Similarly, Devwrat Singh filed his papers from Rajnandgaon seat as a Congress candidate and his party members Phulo Devi Netam filed papers from Kanker (ST) and

Bhanu Pratap Singh from Sarguja (ST) seat, they said.

     Manish Kunjam of CPI filed his papers from Bastar (ST), Padma Chandra Lalwani from Rajnandgaon as CPM and V R Nirala filed from Bilaspur as a BSP candidate.

Three Independent candidates Shrikant Kaser filed his paper from Raipur, where as Derha Ram from Rajnandgaon and Sunil Kumar from Sarguja.

     No nomination was filed from Korba and Durg seats on the first day on Monday.

     March 30 is the last date for filing of nomination and the scrutiny on March 3. The candidates could withdraw their nomination papers on April 2.