Raipur
The BJP, which a few months ago ousted the Congress from power in this State, won 10 out of the total 11 parliamentary constituencies including the four ST seats of Raigarh, Surguja, Bastar and Kanker. Clearly, the tribal votebank that helped it return to power here continued to remain intact in the Parliamentary polls too.
The Congress could win only the Korba parliamentary seat
For the Raigarh and Surguja Lok Sabha constituencies, the ruling BJP had pitted a fresh face Radheshyam Rathiya, and Chintamani Maharaj against Congress candidates Menka Devi Singh and Shashi Singh. Similarly, Congress’ Kawasi Lakhma and Biresh contested against BJP’s Mahesh Kashyap and Bhojraj Nag in Bastar and Kanker Lok Sabha seats.
In the tribal-dominated Raigarh, Rathiya emerged victorious by a margin of 2,40,391 against the Congress nominee Dr Menka Devi Singh, who belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Sarangarh. Rathiya bagged 8,08,275 votes while Singh got 5,67,884 votes.
BJP’s Chintamani Maharaj, a former MLA who switched over from the Congress before the 2023 assembly polls, secured 7,13,200 votes against his Congress rival Shashi Singh, who could get 6,48,378 votes, thereby winning by a margin of 64,822 votes against Singh in Surguja.
Also, BJP nominee Bhojraj Nag bagged the Kanker (ST) seat by a margin of 1,884 votes against Congress candidate Biresh Thakur. Nag got 5,97,624 against the Congress’ Thakur, who secured 5,95,740 votes. Thakur had lost the Kanker seat in 2019 too by a thin margin of 6,914 votes.
In the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, BJP’s Mahesh Kashyap won by 55,245 votes against Congress’s influential tribal leader and former state minister Kawasi Lakhma. Kashyap secured 4,58,398 votes against his Congress rival Lakhma, who who managed to get 403153 votes. Lakhma has represented Konta Assembly seat that falls under the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency since 1998. Lakhma was the Commerce & Industries and Excise Minister in the previous Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in the State and has considerable influence in the Bastar region.
Congress’ sitting MP Jyotsana Mahant was the only one who won. She retained the Korba Lok Sabha seat preventing the BJP a clean sweep. Mahant bagged 5,69,230 votes against BJP’s Saroj Pandey, who got 5,25,967 votes, winning by 43,263 votes.
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.
