Mumbai: The BJP is maintaining a lead in ten out of total 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh while the Congress is leading only in Bastar (ST) constituency, as per the trends available so far.
In the 2014 general elections, the BJP had bagged ten seats and the Congress one. The Congress had won the assembly elections late last year by dislodging the BJP from power.
In the trends available so far, state BJP vice president Sunil Soni is leading over his Congress opponent and Raipur Mayor Pramod Dubey by 1,57,292 votes in Raipur seat.
The tribal state voted in three phases for the 11 Lok Sabha seats. Though traditionally, the state has been the BJP’s stronghold, it had received a jolt in the recent assembly poll results where the Congress won as many as 68 out of 90 seats.
In 2014, the Congress had won Durg in central Chhattisgarh. However, this election, the Congress appears to have been left far behind with BJP’s Vijay Baghel showing a comfortable lead margin of over 80,000 votes (at around 11 am).
Last December, the Congress party emerged as the single largest one in Chhattisgarh by defeating the state’s longest-serving BJP government of 15 years in the assembly elections. The political landscape of the state has changed ever since.
Unlike 2014, the BJP, afraid of losing its member of parliaments in the state, decided to pitch new candidates on several seats.
Even though the state has only 11 Lok Sabha seats, the election here was carried out in three phases – April 11, 18 and 23. The state recorded 71.48% voter turnout.
Chhattisgarh is essentially a “rural state” with over 75% of its population living in the villages. Of the 11 parliamentary seats in the state, four are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and one for Scheduled Castes.
Congress, in December 2018, had thrown a major surprise at political pundits last assembly election by winning 68 of the 90 seats, leading to a massive poll drubbing for the BJP. Raman Singh, former chief minister of the state for 15 years, faced a massive defeat and Congress’s Bhupesh Baghel took charge of the state.
While the Congress showed its best sign of resurgence in the 2018 assembly elections, exit polls predict that this Lok Sabha election might not be entirely in their favour. Most exit polls have assigned between 2-4 seats to the Congress and indicate rest would be retained by the BJP.
In 2014, BJP had won ten seats and Congress had won just one – Durg.
BJP’s Lok Sabha election campaigns in the state were entirely different than in the assembly polls. The party aggressively pitched nationalism as an issue in most of its campaign, and “development”, which interestingly has been Raman Singh’s “top agenda,” did not make an appearance anywhere during campaigns. Congress, on the other hand, tried to focus on the state’s local issues in its campaigns.
Also read: Chhattisgarh, the Perfect Laboratory for Amit Shah’s New Formula for BJP
Besides the dramatic surge seen in the Congress’s performance in the state, this election also proves that Ajit Jogi, former chief minister and founder of the Janata Party Chhattisgarh is no more the decision maker in the state. Jogi, who had forged a pre-poll alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party, could manage just seven seats.
In the general election too, Jogi has an alliance with the BSP. However, Jogi has not fielded any candidate in the Lok Sabha elections, leaving all seats to the BSP.
Within days of Baghel government taking over, he announced that 4,200 hectares of land of tribespeople acquired by the previous BJP government would be returned to the farmers. He also started allocation of land records under the Forest Rights Act, which was withheld by the last government.
The state government has announced a minimum support price for 15 items of forest produce collected by forest communities, including the highest rate of Rs 4,000 per quintal for procurement of tendu leaves. These schemes have been looked at as a major step towards wooing the voters.
The fate of 166 contestants will be decided on the state’s 11 seats on May 23.