Straight fight between BJP, Congress in Raipur LS seat
| Date :15-Apr-2019 |
Staff Reporter RAIPUR:
25 candidates are in the fray for Raipur Lok Sabha seat
Raipur Lok Sabha seat, which is held by the Bharatiya Janata Party for last 23 years, is expected to witness a straight and tough fight between BJP candidate Sunil Soni and Indian National Congress candidate Pramod Dubey in the Lok Sabha elections, slated for April 23. A total of 25 candidates are in the fray for this seat. Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Khilesh Kumar Sahu, Gondvana Gantantra Party candidate Ajay Chakole, Bhartiya Shakti Chetna Party candidate Chhabilal Kanwar, Ambedkarite Party of India candidate Ikram Saifi, Bhartiya Kisan Party candidate Tameshwar Sahu, Republican Party of India (A) candidate Devki Dubey, Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) candidate Devendra Kumar Patil, Bharatiya Bahujan Party candidate Banmali Chhura, Sarvodaya Bharat Party candidate Dr Yogita Bajpai, Rashtriya Jansabha Party candidate Vijay Kumar Kurre, Shakti Sena (Bharat Desh) candidate Advocate Shailendra Kumar Banjare, Shivsena candidate Santosh Yadu, independent candidates Tarjan Jangde, Navin Gupta, Pravin Jain, Pritesh Pandey, Manish Shrivastava, Ramkrishna Verma, Ramdayal Dahariya, Rupesh Sahu, Shankar Lal Vardani, Sanju Kumar Yadav and Santosh Sahu are in the race for Raipur Lok Sabha seat. Congress won Raipur Lok Sabha seat 11 times. Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ramesh Bais won Raipur Lok Sabha seven times. Janata Party candidate Purushottam Kaushik won Raipur Lok Sabha seat in 1977.
Indian National Congress candidate Bhupendra Nath Mishra became first Lok Sabha Member from Raipur Lok Sabha constituency and he won this seat in 1952. Indian National Congress candidate and freedom fighter Keyur Bhushan won Raipur Lok Sabha seat four times. Former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla won Raipur Lok Sabha seat in 1991. BJP leader Ramesh Bais won Raipur Lok Sabha election first time in 1989. Later Bais won Raipur seat consecutive six times since 1996. He represented Raipur Lok Sabha seat for 23 years from 1996 to 2019. But the BJP didn’t give ticket to its sitting MP Bais rather fielded former Mayor Sunil Kumar Soni from Raipur Lok Sabha seat.
BJP candidate and former Mayor Sunil Kumar Soni is highlighting the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government in the last five years and is working to retain the seat. Meanwhile, Congress fielded Raipur Mayor Pramod Dubey from Raipur seat. Dubey is highlighting his achievements as Mayor as well as the achievements of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his government. Congress party won six assembly segments out of nine in Raipur Lok Sabha constituency in the assembly elections. The BJP won only two assembly segments while one seat went to Janata Congress Chhattisgarh.
The BJP got 5,23,162 votes in nine assembly segments of Raipur Lok Sabha segment in the recently concluded assembly elections while the Congress received 6,12,025 votes. The difference of votes between the Congress and the BJP is 88,863 votes. In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidate Ramesh Bais defeated Congress candidate Satyanarayan Sharma by a margin of 1,71,646 votes. Ramesh Bais polled 6,54,922 votes while Satyanarayan Sharma polled 483276 votes in the election. Raipur Lok Sabha constituency comprises of nine assembly segments- Baloda Bazar, Bhatapara, Dharsiwa, Raipur Rural, Raipur City West, Raipur City North, Raipur City South, Arang (SC) and Abhanpur. 21,11,104 votes including female voters 10,38,886 voters will decide the fate of 25 candidates in the elections.