Bhupesh Baghel vs Santosh Pandey on Rajnandgaon seat.
Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat of Chhattisgarh has become the most high-profile seat of the state this time and that is because former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel has contested from here on behalf of Congress. So to challenge Bhupesh Baghel, BJP has again given ticket to sitting MP Santosh Pandey. In such a situation, the contest on Rajnandgaon seat became very interesting and tough. Let us now tell you in detail about the entire electoral equation related to Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat of Chhattisgarh.
When will elections be held in Rajnandgaon?
Voting will be held in 3 phases on all 11 Lok Sabha seats of Chhattisgarh. In this, elections will be held in the first phase i.e. on 19th April in ultra Naxal affected area Bastar. In the second phase i.e. on 26th April, voting will be held on 3 other Lok Sabha seats including Rajnandgaon.
Rajnandgaon is the seat of Chief Ministers
If we look at the history of Rajnandgaon seat, many Chief Ministers have contested elections from here. After the formation of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel will be the second Chief Minister who is contesting from this seat. Earlier, when this seat was not separated from Madhya Pradesh, Motilal Vora, who was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, had also contested elections from here. Not only this, former Chief Minister of the state Dr. Raman Singh has also contested elections from Rajnandgaon. But the thing to note is that Motilal Vora and Dr. Raman Singh had contested elections from Rajnandgaon before becoming the CM and Bhupesh Baghel is trying his luck from Rajnandgaon after becoming the CM.
Hot seat created due to Bhupesh Baghel’s claim
Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel was the state Congress chief between 2014 and 2019. Baghel has considerable dominance in Patan constituency, from where he has won the assembly elections several times. Bhupesh Baghel has also been a minister in Digvijay Singh’s government in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Baghel has reached Chhattisgarh Assembly by becoming MLA from Patan constituency five times in the last three decades. In December last year, Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel had defeated his distant nephew and BJP leader Vijay Baghel by a huge margin of 19,723 votes and once again won from Patan assembly seat. Now this time Baghel is trying to hoist the Congress flag in BJP’s stronghold Rajnandgaon. Although till now Rajnandgaon has been an impregnable fort of BJP, but this time Congress has played a big gamble by fielding Bhupesh Baghel from here. Bhupesh Baghel is considered one of the most powerful leaders of Chhattisgarh and Baghel, who was previously the Chief Minister of the state, can stop the victory chariot of BJP from here.
Baghel was a member of All India Congress Committee, then General Secretary and then Program Coordinator of State Congress Committee. In the year 1993, Baghel became MLA from Patan for the first time and reached Madhya Pradesh Assembly (undivided). Before this, he was also the President of District Youth Congress Committee Durg Rural from 1990 to 1994 and then also the Director of Madhya Pradesh Housing Board from 1993 to 2001.
Santosh Pandey’s height is also big
Santosh Pandey has grown up in a political family since childhood and his family background is also associated with BJP. Santosh Pandey’s father, late Shiv Prasad Pandey, was the Mandal President of Sahaspur Lohara Mandal twice. His mother Sona Devi Pandey was also a district panchayat member in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Not only this, Santosh’s family has been associated with RSS.
Santosh Pandey has been the Mandal President of BJP and the President of Yuva Morcha of Rajnandgaon district twice. Santosh has been the state minister of BJP twice and apart from this he has also been the state general secretary and has been the president of Agricultural Produce Market Kawardha. He was also the State Chairman of Sports and Youth Welfare Commission during the BJP rule. After this, Santosh became MP in the 17th Lok Sabha from Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency and is once again contesting on BJP ticket from Rajnandgaon.
History of Rajnandgaon
Rajnandgaon is also called the cultural center of Chhattisgarh. Famous dynasties like Somavanshi, Kalachuri and later Marathas also ruled here. In the initial days it was called Nandgram, after which it was named Rajnandgaon. After the independence of the country, in 1948, Rajnandgaon was merged into Durg district of Central India, which later became Madhya Pradesh. But later in 1973, Rajnandgaon was separated from Durg district and new Rajnandgaon district was formed.
Political map of Rajnandgaon
Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat has a total of 8 assembly constituencies. Which includes Rajnandgaon, Khujji, Mohla Manpur, Dongargaon, Khairagarh, Dongargarh, Kawardha and Pandariya. Although Congress has captured 5 out of these 8 assembly seats, BJP MLAs have won on 3 assembly seats. Rajnandgaon seat is considered a stronghold of BJP, because this seat has been in the possession of BJP for the last 5 Lok Sabha elections. Rajnandgaon is one of the 90 assembly constituencies of Chhattisgarh state. Former Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh for 15 years, is an MLA from Rajnandgaon district and has been winning elections continuously.
Rajnandgaon under BJP control since 1999
The BJP’s winning streak, which started with Raman Singh on this seat in 1999, continues till now. BJP’s Pradeep Gandhi won in 2004, but he was defeated by Congress’s Devvrat Singh in the 2007 by-election. After this, in 2009, BJP’s Madhusudan Yadav became MP from Rajnandgaon and in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, former Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh’s son Abhishek Singh also contested on BJP ticket and became MP. Then in the 2019 elections, BJP fielded Santosh Pandey from here and he also won. Therefore Rajnandgaon is considered the stronghold of BJP. But this time with the entry of Bhupesh Baghel, the contest here is going to be interesting.
Rajnandgaon election result 2019
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Santosh Pandey had won from here by 6,62,387 votes. Whereas Congress’s Bhola Ram Sahu got 5,50,421 votes and BSP’s Ravita Lakra got only 17,145 votes.
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