As many as 52 candidates, including former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, have filed nominations for the three Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the second phase of the general elections in Chhattisgarh, officials said on Thursday.

During the day, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Santosh Pandey filed his nomination from the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat.

Elections to the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state will be held on April 19, April 26 and May 7 and votes will be counted on June 4.

Polling in Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund and Kanker (Scheduled Tribe reserved), all having Naxalite presence in some pockets, will be held in the second phase on April 26. The BJP had won these seats in 2019.

The nominations for the second phase had to be filed by Thursday evening. A total of 52 candidates have filed 95 nominations for these three seats, a poll official here said.

Some of the candidates have filed nominations in more than one seat, he said.

Twenty-three candidates filed nominations from Rajnandgaon, 19 from Mahasamund and 10 from Kanker, he said.

The BJP candidate Pandey was accompanied by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai when he filed his nomination at Rajnandgaon collectorate. Deputy Chief Ministers Vijay Sharma and Arun Sao, state BJP chief Kiran Deo and other leaders were also present.

Sitting MP Pandey, who had polled 6.62 lakh votes last time, is seeking his second term from Rajnandgaon. Congress has fielded senior leader and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in this seat.

Talking to reporters, Sai exuded confidence that the people of Rajandgaon will re-elect Pandey, whom he described as an “energetic MP”.

“Pandey has always raised the voice of common people in Parliament. He never ignored the interests of people in his constituency. People of Rajnandgaon will again elect Pandey and he will do all-round development of Rajnandgaon under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the double engine government,” he added.