Raipur
As electioneering came to an end in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, it has emerged that the four Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved parliamentary constituency seats of Raigarh, Surguja, Bastar and Kanker have witnessed a higher voter turnout in the three-phase polls, compared to 2019.
The first, second and third phase of general elections 2024 were held on April 19, April 26 and May 7 respectively in the State.
While the State recorded 68.29 percent voters’ turnout in Bastar Lok Sabha seat and 76.23 percent in Kanker parliamentary constituency in the first and second phase of general elections held on April 19 and April 26, it recorded an overall 71.98 percent poll turnout in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls 2024.
As per the Election Commission data, Raigarh parliamentary constituency recorded 78.85 percent voter turnout while Surguja LS seat witnessed 79.89 percent voter turnout. Both Raigarh and Surguja LS constituencies comprise eight assembly segments each.
Comparatively, in the 2019 Lok general elections in Chhattisgarh, the overall turnout in Bastar was 66.04 percent while Kanker recorded 74.27 percent. The overall voting percentage in Raigarh was 77.38 percent and 77.30 percent in Surguja.
Incidentally, the BJP has a very impressive track record in the parliamentary polls in the State. In the last 20 years, since 2004, the BJP won 10 of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in three consecutive Lok Sabha polls i.e in 2004, 2009 and 2014. In fact, even though the Congress wrested power from it in 2018, the BJP won nine of the 11 constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
As for the 2023 Assembly elections, the BJP, which had fared badly on ST seats in 2018 to lose power in Chhattisgarh, bounced back on tribal turfs. Adivasis helped it win 17 of the 29 ST seats in the 90-member house while the Congress could win just 11 seats. The overall voter turnout was nearly 70 percent.
This was primarily the reason behind the BJP storming back to power in the State proving the predictions of all political pundits about a Congress victory wrong.
With the tribals backing it, the BJP returned favour by making an Adivasi, Vishnu Deo Sai, the Chief Minister. The move then was also keeping the impending Lok Sabha elections in mind.
Whether it pays the dividends helping the BJP win all the 11 Lok Sabha seats and accomplish its “Abki Baar, 400 Paar” mission, remains to be seen.
For the Raigarh and Surguja Lok Sabha constituencies, the ruling BJP pitted a fresh face Radheshyam Rathiya, and Chintamani Maharaj against Congress candidates Menka Devi Singh and Shashi Singh.
Raigarh is the home turf of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai. Sai has earlier represented this parliamentary seat four times in 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
Menka Devi Singh hails from the erstwhile Sarangarh royal family. She is the daughter of Raja Nareschandra Singh, who had served as Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh. Her sisters, the late Rajni Devi Singh and Pushpa Devi Singh had served as Congress Lok Sabha MPs in the past. Menka Devi Singh’s another sister Kamla Devi Singh has been an MLA for 18 years.
The Congress pitted senior Congress leader Kawasi Lakhma against the BJP candidate Mahesh Kashyap, a former sarpanch, in Bastar. Lakhma, an influential tribal leader, is a six-term MLA and has represented Konta Assembly seat that falls under the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency since 1998. He was Industry and Excise minister in the previous Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in the state. Lakhma has considerable influence in the Bastar region in south Chhattisgarh.
The party had denied a ticket to an outgoing MP from Bastar Deepak Baij, who is also the president of the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee. Incidentally, Baij had lost the 2023 Assembly polls from Chitrakote.
In Kanker, the BJP pitted Bhojraj Nag against Congress’ Biresh Thakur. In the 2019 parliamentary polls, Thakur had unsuccessfully contested from Kanker losing to BJP’s Mohan Mandavi.
The father of Congress candidate Biresh Thakur, late Satyanarayan Singh Thakur was the Congress MLA between 1972 and 1977 from Bhanupratappur assembly segment constituency in Kanker.
This time around, the voters of 46 villages in the Kanker constituency exercised their franchise for the first time in the polling booths set up in their villages.
