Rajnandgaon…. The area connecting Chhattisgarh to Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. An area which is full of dense forests. An area full of high grade limestone and bauxite. An area from where Chhattisgarh’s second largest river Shivnath flows. An area that tells the story of not just one but many princely states. An area which is religious, archaeological and historical. An area which is theatre, songs, music and literature. An area where the temple of Shaktipeeth Maa Bamleshwari is situated on the hill, and the Shiva temple of Bhoramdev like Khajuraho is situated on the Terai. A region that houses Asia’s first and only music university. An area in which some parts are influenced by Naxalism, where there is some pain, wounds and wounds among the tribals. An area where politics has been dominated by royal families. An area which was once the strongest stronghold of Congress. But now lotus has been blooming in this area for decades. Read the ground story of Sanskaardhani of Chhattisgarh in this report….
The election noise of the second phase of Lok Sabha elections stopped at 5 pm on 24th April. There will be no rallies, meetings, noise or commotion now. Because voting is on 26th April. But what is the ground report before voting? Who are the public supporting? Who passed, who failed? Will Santosh Pandey or Bhupesh Baghel win? We will try to understand this equation in this report.
Rajnandgaon… is a large Lok Sabha constituency spread from north to south and west. Lok Sabha extends to Rajnandgaon, Kawardha, Khairagarh and Mohla-Manpur districts. There are a total of 8 assembly seats in the Lok Sabha. 2 out of 8 assembly seats are reserved for SC and ST. Congress has MLAs on 5 out of 8 seats, while BJP is in control of 3 seats.
Rajnandgaon is a backward class dominated area. Where the maximum population is of Sahu community. Sahu community is spread in the entire area of Lok Sabha. Along with this, the majority of Kurmi, Lodhi, Yadav, Nishad and Satnami communities are region wise. The spread of tribal society also extends from Mohla-Manpur to the areas of Salhewara, Gandai, Rengakhar, Bodla and Pandariya. Among others, people from Brahmin, Thakur, Agarwal, Marwari and Jain communities are influential.
The politics of Rajnandgaon has been dominated by royal families. Actually, the Lok Sabha constituency includes the princely states of Gandai-Lohara along with Rajnandgaon, Khairagarh, Kawardha. But the Khairagarh royal family has been influential in politics. Members of Khairagarh royal family have represented 7 times in 17 Lok Sabha elections including 1 by-election.
electoral history
The first elections for Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha were held in 1957. From the first elections in 1957 to 1967, members of the Khairagarh royal family had won on Congress tickets in three consecutive elections. Birendra Bahadur Singh had won twice consecutively in 1957 and 62. Padmavati Devi had won in 1967. 1971 Congress gave ticket to Ramshay Pandey instead of the royal family and he also won. However, after the Emergency of 75, Congress had to face defeat in the elections held in 77. Madan Tiwari of Bharatiya Lok Dal had won in 77.
Royal Family
Congress made a spectacular comeback in the 1980 elections and from 80 to 89, the Khairagarh royal family once again dominated. Shivendra Bahadur Singh of the royal family won two consecutive elections. But in 1989, BJP’s account opened on this seat and Dharampal Singh Gupta was successful in defeating Congress. In the elections of 1991, Congress made a comeback and Shivendra Bahadur Singh of the royal family became MP for the third time. However, in the elections of 1996, BJP again won and Ashok Sharma won and reached Parliament. Congress was again successful in winning this seat in the 1998 elections. Former Chief Minister Motilal Vora had contested elections from Rajnandgaon from Durg and won.
BJP’s stronghold
In this way, the game of win and loss continued between Congress and BJP for a whole decade from 89 to 98. However, Congress remained dominant in the elections from 57 to 89 and Rajnandgaon seat was then discussed as a strong stronghold of Congress. But in 1999, with the defeat of Motilal Vora and the victory of Dr. Raman Singh, this seat turned into a stronghold of BJP. The lotus of BJP that bloomed since 99 has been blooming continuously for the last two decades till 2019. In the Lok Sabha elections, Panja’s hold on this seat continued to weaken.
Pradeep Gandhi won on BJP ticket in 2004. However, in the by-election held in 2007, once again a member of the Khairagarh royal family led the Congress back and Devvrat Singh was successful in winning. But in 2009, BJP made a spectacular comeback. Madhusudan Yadav in 09, Abhishek Singh, son of Dr. Raman Singh in 14 and Santosh Pandey in 19 were successful in blooming the lotus of BJP.
interesting thing
The contest in the 2024 elections is interesting. Because the contest is between current MP Santosh Pandey and former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Call it a coincidence that Bhupesh Baghel, like Motilal Vora, is contesting elections from Rajnandgaon seat from Durg. When he was the former Chief Minister, Vora was successful in winning the election from this seat for the first time, but lost in the second election. The interesting thing with Santosh Pandey is that after 99, BJP did not repeat any MP on this seat. From Dr. Raman Singh to his son Abhishek Singh, no one got the ticket for the second time. But Santosh Pandey has been successful in getting the ticket for the second time.
Santosh Pandey, BJP candidate
Santosh Pandey, who comes from Sangh background, is a Hindu leader of impeccable image. The first choice of the Sangh and the trust of the central leadership is on him. He is considered universally accepted among all the factions of BJP. Maintain better coordination with the leaders of the organization. Has been in active politics for last 3 decades. With the help of Hindutva issues and Modi magic, they are hopeful of victory once again. But due to his lack of major achievements as an MP and lack of activity, there is a lot of resentment in many areas.
Both the Sangh and the BJP organization have invested their strength in making Santosh Pandey win. Meetings were held from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. Along with this, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai also held meetings and road shows. At the local level, ministers along with Deputy Chief Ministers Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma have also campaigned.
Santosh Pandey not only participated in election rallies with big leaders but also campaigned extensively in every village. Along with typical Chhattisgarhi speeches and songs, he has conveyed the topics of nationalism, religion, religious conversion to the voters and has also mentioned the decisions taken in the Modi government like 370, triple talaq, Ram Mandir etc. In a way, Santosh Pandey is trying to sail through the election war with the help of nationalism and Modi magic.
Bhupesh Baghel, Congress candidate
Bhupesh Baghel is a 6-time MLA and active in politics for 4 decades. He has also been a minister in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Has been the President of Chhattisgarh Congress. Was Chief Minister from 2018 to 2023. Not only this, he was the most powerful Chief Minister during his tenure. He is also one of the strongest leaders in OBC category. His image as a farmer leader is also at the national level. Along with this, the credit for dividing Rajnandgaon and creating two new districts Mohla-Manpur and Khairagarh is also his share. However, amidst all this, he is also surrounded by many types of controversies and allegations. FIR in Mahadev Satta App. Apart from the allegations of scam in coal and liquor, they are also facing factionalism within the party and open rebellion by the workers.
Amidst all this, Bhupesh Baghel is a candidate from Rajnandgaon seat and is also a star campaigner. Because like BJP, big national campaigners of Congress have not campaigned for them. A meeting of Priyanka Gandhi has been held at the national level. Bhupesh Baghel has single-handedly maintained the front from Manpur to Pandariya. For the last one month, Baghel has campaigned intensively without any gap. Baghel has emphasized on village-to-village street meetings instead of big rallies. His election tours have been going on continuously from 10 am to 11 pm.
Bhupesh Baghel has made his typical Chhattisgarhia style an election weapon. Along with enumerating the failures of the Modi government, he also reminds the achievements of his tenure. He woos the people by criticizing the government in every possible way. Amidst the laughter and jokes, he also raises the issue of the Constitution being in danger with seriousness. It is said that if Modi government comes again, the Constitution will change and then there will be no democracy in the country. Among these issues, he also talks about paddy and farmers. Tribals and OBCs also emphasize on the issue of reservation and accuse the BJP government of stalling it.
Sectoral impact
Apart from the claims and campaigning of the candidates, the mood of the public appears to be different region wise. Mohla-Manpur: To some extent, the impact of national issues included in the agenda of Modi government is visible, whereas to a greater extent, the impact of local issues is visible. At the local level, there is the fight for water-forest-land, development and displacement, education and health, water and roads, unemployment and Naxalism.
Similarly, the issue of paddy and farmers is also effective in Khujji, Dongargaon and Dongargarh. But the impact of nationalism and Modi magic is also visible amidst the biggest problem of drinking water. In areas like Rajnandgaon, Khairagarh, Kawardha and Pandariya, along with Hindutva, religion, religious conversion, Article 370, Triple Talaq and construction of Ram temple taken under Modi government are seen to be effective. However, in the rural areas of these areas, the magic of Bhupesh Baghel is visible in the form of Kaka.
no caste
If we talk about caste equations, the electoral history is enough to show that caste equations have been ineffective in the Lok Sabha elections. However, Congress has been successful to some extent in portraying the current election as a contest between OBCs and upper castes. Despite this, competition is visible on national issues and leadership faces.
Issues- Migration, unemployment, Naxal, religion, Hindutva, paddy, along with farmers, the issue of drinking water is the biggest. There is severe water crisis in many areas during summer. Both BJP and Congress governments have failed to overcome this.
Total voters – 18 lakh 65 thousand 1975
Female voters – 9 lakh 36 thousand 837
Male voters – 9 lakh 23 thousand 29
(The number of female and youth voters is more. About 3 lakh new voters have joined.)
previous result
BJP candidate Santosh Pandey got 6 lakh 62 thousand 387 votes, while Congress candidate Bholaram Sahu got 5 lakh 50 thousand 421 votes. Santosh Pandey had won by about 1 lakh 11 votes.
