Team News Riveting
Raipur, October 15
In a surprise political move, Congress dropped former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Shishu Pal Shori to seek re-election from the Kanker assembly constituency in the ensuing state polls.
The 2000-batch IAS officer is the sitting MLA from Kanker assembly constituency. In the 2018 elections, he polled over 51 per cent votes in the constituency and lodged a comfortable victory over his nearest BJP rival Hira Markam.
Shori has been dropped in the first list of 30 candidates released by the Congress Sunday to contest the assembly elections. The state goes to the polls in two phases on November 7 and 17.
The party has fielded former MLA Shankar Dhruv to contest the poll from Kanker instead of Shori. Dhruv represented the constituency in 2013, winning the election by bagging 39.99 per cent votes—11 per cent less than the former IAS officer.
The move has come as a surprise in the political circle. The IAS officer has been considered close to the Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel and enjoyed a clout among the electorate in the constituency reserved for the scheduled tribe (ST).
Interestingly, BJP has put a bet on the former bureaucrat and fielded O P Choudhary to contest the assembly elections from Raigarh constituency. The 2005-batch IAS officer, O P Choudhary has created a niche for himself in a short span of time not only in the political space of BJP but also in the state.
Known for promoting education infrastructure in the Maoist heartland, Choudhary is the recipient of Prime Minister Excellence Award. He is also a motivational public speaker.
