The Congress has fielded popular actor Vikram Mastal against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the upcoming assembly elections. Mr Mastal is best known for his role as Hanuman in Anand Sagar’s 2008 television show Ramayana.

The party today announced its first list of party candidates for the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana assembly elections.

In Madhya Pradesh, the party fielded former chief minister and PCC chief Kamal Nath from his Chhindwara assembly constituency. Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh has been fielded from Raghigath seat. He was a minister in the last Kamal Nath government.

Vikram Mastal will be up against Mr Chouhan in the Budhni constituency.

Vijay Laxmi Sadho, a former Rajya Sabha member and minister in the state, has been fielded from the Maheshwar-SC assembly seat. Former cabinet minister Jitu Patwari has been fielded from Rau assembly constituency.

The list includes 47 candidates from the general category, 39 from the OBC category, 30 from the ST category, 22 from the SC category, one Muslim, and 19 women. Sixty-five of the candidates are under the age of 50.

The BJP has already announced candidates for over half of the assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, with a list of 136 out of 230 seats.

Madhya Pradesh will hold assembly elections on November 17 to elect representatives for its 230 constituencies. The election will be held in a single phase, and the results will be announced on December 3.

At least four former BJP leaders are in the Congress’ first list of candidates for the upcoming Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. They are Avdhesh Nayak (Datia), Rao Yadvendra Singh (Mungaoli), ex-BJP MP Bodh Singh Bhagat (Katangi), and Neeraj Sharma (Surkhi). Tickets have been denied to three sitting MLAs, including former Assembly speaker NP Prajapati