Riding on the promise to carve out a new district, ruling Congress comprehensively won the Khairagarh bypoll in Chhattisgarh on Saturday. Yashoda Verma defeated two-time former MLA of BJP Komal Janghel by 20,176 votes.
While Verma polled 87,879 votes, Janghel got 67,703 votes.
Janta Congress Chhattisgarh, which held the seat earlier, forfeited deposit in the elections, as its candidate Narendra Soni could manage only 1,222 or 0.74 per cent of the total votes polled. In fact, NOTA polled more votes (2,616) than Janta Congress.
The seat had been vacated by the death of Janta Congress MLA and Khairagarh royal clan member Devwrat Singh.
Celebrating the bypoll win, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel tweeted: “The people of Khairagarh have sent out a larger message to the traders of hate that people of Chhattisgarh are peace loving. If attempts are made to indulge in trade of hate here, people of Chhattisgarh will never forgive.”
“People of Khairagarh have again expressed faith that it is only Congress which does what it says. Congratulations to Yashoda Verma for being elected as 71st Congress MLA in Chhattisgarh. It would not have been possible without the hard work of each of our workers.”
The win takes the Congress tally in the 90-member state assembly to 71. It is the fourth straight win for the ruling party in bypolls. In 2018, Congress had won 68 seats while BJP had won 15. The BJP’s tally had been reduced to 14 after the loss in Dantewada in 2019. Janta Congress’s tally has now been reduced to 3 from 4.
Despite the fact that the results of the bypoll could hardly impact the government in any way, the Khairagarh election was touted as a semifinal for the 2023 assembly elections.
The loss is a shock to the BJP as Rajnandgaon is the home district of Raman Singh, who was the chief minister from 2003 to 2018.
Both the Congress and BJP gave tickets to candidates of Lodhi community, which has a large presence in the constituency. While Congress decided to field Verma, a former district panchayat member and block president, BJP fell back on five-time candidate Janghel.
The ruling party’s charge was led by Baghel, who held multiple mass meetings in different parts of the constituency during the last six days of campaign.
The BJP, apart from its local leaders, roped in Union Ministers Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste, apart from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for campaigning.
However, the general perception is that the decision of the Congress to announce that Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai will be carved out of Rajnandgaon as a new district, made a huge difference for the ruling party. CM Baghel repeatedly announced while campaigning that the Congress will get a new MLA on April 16 and local people will get a new district the next day. Also, the Congress brought in a special manifesto for the bypoll.
After it became clear on Saturday that the BJP was losing the poll, Raman Singh attacked the Congress. He said that it has become clear that the Congress won on the basis of its new promises, especially for a new district, and not on its work of the past three-and-a-half years. “At this rate, will the Congress promise 90 new districts during the 2023 assembly polls as it has no work to show in its tenure,” Singh asked.
Losing candidate Janghel also said that he lost due to Congress’s ‘fake promises’. “The ruling party misused the administrative machinery, distributed money, liquor and sarees and resorted to all wrong means to win this poll,” he said.
The Chhattisgarh Congress president Mohan Markam, however, attributed the win to people’s faith in Congress and its government. “People of Khairagarh have shown faith in the work done by our government, the leadership of the chief minister and the policies of the Congress party. I express gratitude to them,” Markam tweeted while congratulating Yashoda Verma for the win.
The polling was held on April 12, and saw a turnout of 78.48 per cent. In 2018 and 2013 assembly polls, the turnout was over 84 per cent.
Preparations on for announcement of new district
Meanwhile, the Congress government has started preparations to announce the new ‘Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai’ district by Sunday evening to keep its promise to the electorate of carving the district within 24 hours of the bypoll result. Sources said that officials of the revenue and general administration department were working overtime to ensure that the notification of the new district was announced in time. Objections and suggestions on the notification will be sought as per rules, and final notification on the district will be issued only after that.
