For Raipur City South bypoll, Congress pits Youth Congress leader against BJP’s Sunil Soni

The Congress on Tuesday announced its candidate for the assembly by-election in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur City South assembly segment

RAIPUR: The Congress on Tuesday named Chhattisgarh Youth Congress president Akash Sharma as its candidate for the upcoming by-election for the Raipur City South assembly seat scheduled next month.

The Congress has fielded Chhattisgarh Youth Congress president Akash Sharma from Raipur City South, which the Congress has never won since it was carved out in 2008. (X/AkashSharmaINC)

Sharma, who previously headed the state unit of the Congress’s National Students’ Union of India, is pitted against Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sunil Soni, who represented the Raipur Lok Sabha seat, from 2019 to 2024.

The BJP did not repeat Sunil Soni from the Raipur parliamentary constituency in the general elections earlier this year and fielded eight-term MLA Brijmohan Agrawal who represented the Raipur City South assembly segment. Agrawal vacated the assembly seat after his Lok Sabha win, necessitating the bypoll in the state.

The BJP has held the urban constituency since it was created in 2008 following the delimitation of seats in Chhattisgarh that was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.

Polling for the by-election will be held on November 13, with votes to be counted on November 23.

The last day for filing nominations is October 25. In last year’s state assembly elections, the BJP secured a majority with 54 out of 90 seats, while Congress won 35 seats and the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) took one seat.

The Raipur City South constituency has more women voters than male. According to Election Commission data, the constituency has 2,70,936 registered voters. Of them, 1,33,713 are males, 1,37,171 females, and 52 transgender voters. The constituency will have 253 polling booths.