As has been the practice at THE WEEK for previous assembly elections such as the ones in Karnataka, Tripura and Meghalaya, we present for you a list of the constituencies that matter in Chhattisgarh.
Of the 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh Assembly, 29 are reserved for scheduled tribes and 10 for scheduled castes. While most of the high-profile constituencies are those that will decide the fate of prominent BJP and Congress leaders on December 11, others figure in the list for more unique reasons. For example, a total of three Shakuntala Sahus are contesting in two constituencies, while three T.S. Babas are fighting in one seat!
Raipur South: The main candidates in this constituency are Umesh Das Manikpuri of the BSP, Kanhaiya Agrawal of the Congress and Brijmohan Agrawal of the BJP. Brijmohan, regarded as a 'heavyweight' in the state BJP and a minister in the Raman Singh cabinet, had won the previous two elections in Raipur South in 2013 and 2008.
Raipur West: The main candidates in this constituency are Bhojraj Gaurkhede of the BSP, Rajesh Munat of the BJP and Vikas Upadhyay of the Congress. Munat, the PWD Minister, had won Raipur West in 2008 and 2013. Upadhyay is contesting again from the constituency after losing to Munat in 2013.
Raipur Rural (Gramin): Raipur Gramin is seeing a straight fight between Nand Kumar Sahu of the BJP and and Satyanarayan Sharma of the Congress. Sharma and Sahu are crossing swords for the third time over Raipur Gramin with both previous contests being closely fought and the candidates being separated by around 2,000-3,000 votes. In 2008, Sahu emerged victorious, while five years later, Sharma won.
Rajnandgaon: Rajnandgaon is likely to be the most closely watched contest for the BJP for two reasons. One, it's the constituency from which Chief Minister Raman Singh is contesting. Second, Raman Singh's opponent, Karuna Shukla, used to be a BJP MLA and is also the niece of the party's late patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Shukla is contesting on a Congress ticket. Raman Singh had won both the 2008 and 2013 elections by securing margins of over 33,000 votes each time.
Kasdol: Kasdol is the home constituency of Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal. Interestingly, two candidates with the name Shakuntala Sahu are contesting from Kasdol—one from the Congress and the other from the NCP. The other notable candidate is Rameshwar Prasad Kaiwart of the BSP. Agrawal won from Kasdol in 2013 by beating then Congress MLA Raj Kamal Singhaniya, who had won the constituency in 2008 and 2003. Agrawal was the losing candidate for BJP in the 2003 election.
Patan: The third Shakuntala Sahu contesting in the Chhattisgarh polls is fighting on a Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) ticket from Patan. However, the main candidates are state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel and Motilal Sahu of the BJP. Interestingly, Patan had witnessed a straight fight between Bhupesh and his nephew Vijay Baghel in the last three elections. While Bhupesh won the 2003 and 2013 elections, Vijay won in 2008. Vijay had fought the 2003 polls on an NCP ticket.
Durg City: Arun Vora of the Congress and Chandrika Chandrakar of the BJP are the main candidates. Arun, the son of Congress veteran Motilal Vora, won from Durg City in 2013 after defeating Hem Chand Yadav of the BJP, to whom he had lost to in 2003 and 2008. Chandrakar has been mayor of Durg City.
Bhilai Nagar: State Cabinet Minister Prem Prakash Pandey is contesting against the Congress's Devendra Singh Yadav and Deenanath Jaiswar of the BSP. Pandey had won from Bhilai Nagar in 2003 and 2013, defeating Badruddin Qureshi of the Congress. In 2008, Pandey had lost to Qureshi.
Saja: Saja witnesses a clash between BJP's Labhchand Bafna and Congress's Ravindra Chaube. Bafna and Chaube had contested against each other in 2008 and 2013. While Chaube, who had won in 2003, emerged victorious in 2008, Bafna won the seat in 2013.
Dantewada: Dantewada, a reserved seat for scheduled tribes, sees a contest between sitting MLA Devati Karma of the Congress and BJP's Bhima Mandavi. Mandavi, who won the constituency in 2008, lost to Karma in 2013. Nand Ram Sori of the CPI and Keshav Netam of the BSP are the other key candidates in Dantewada.
Bijapur: Forests Minister Mahesh Gagda is contesting against Vikram Mandavi of the Congress in Bijapur, a constituency reserved for scheduled tribes. Gagda won from Bijapur in 2008 and 2013, beating Mandavi in the latter election.
Pratappur: In Pratappur, a seat reserved for scheduled tribes, State Home Minister Ramsevak Paikra is contesting against Premsai Singh Tekam of the Congress for the third time. While Paikra won in 2013, Tekam won the constituency in 2008.
Ambikapur: Congress chief minister aspirant T.S. Singh Deo is contesting from Ambikapur against his old opponent Anurag Singh Deo of the BJP, who he defeated in 2008 and 2013. Unfortunately for T.S. Singh Deo, who likes to be known as T.S. Baba, there are two other candidates who have the name T.S. Baba in the constituency—one belonging to the JCC(J) and the other an independent.
Kharsia: Kharsia has been considered a Congress stronghold, with the party winning all three elections since 2003. After Congress strongman Nandkumar Patel, who won Kharsia in 2003 and 2008, was killed in a Naxalite attack, his son, Umesh Patel, won the constituency in 2013. Umesh is up against O.P. Chaudhary, who was district collector of Raipur, before he quit the IAS to join the BJP in August.
Marwahi: Marwahi, reserved for scheduled tribes, is notable for being the stronghold of the Ajit Jogi clan. While Ajit, Chhattisgarh's first chief minister, won the seat in 2003 and 2008, his son Amit won in 2013. Ajit is contesting from Marwahi this time and is up against Gulab Singh Raj of the Congress and Archana Porte of the BJP.
Kota: The Congress had won all elections in Kota since 2003, but this time may be different as the winner of three of those elections has left the party. Renu Jogi, wife of Ajit Jogi, had won a bypoll from Kota in 2006 before winning the elections in 2008 and 2013 on Congress tickets. However, she left the Congress shortly before the current polls to join her husband's JCC(J). Renu is contesting against Kashi Ram Sahu of the BJP, whom she defeated in 2013, and Congress's Vibhor Singh.
Bilaspur: Amar Agarwal, a senior cabinet minister in the state, has won from Bilaspur in all three elections from 2003. Shailesh Pandey of the Congress is his main rival this time, with Brijesh Sahu contesting from the JCC(J).
(With inputs from Deepak Tiwari)
