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Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh from April 19 to May 7 in three phases
The upcoming general elections pose a huge challenge for the Congress as it has not fared well in the four parliamentary elections in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 in Chhattisgarh
Raipur: Voting for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh will be held from April 10 to May 7. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced the dates for Lok Sabha polls nationwide, with Chhattisgarh’s 11 seats going to polls in three phases on April 19, April 26 and May 7, respectively.
Chhattisgarh’s Bastar seat will go to poll on April 19, while Kanker Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund seats will host voting on April 26. The remaining seats – Durg, Raipur, Janjgir-Chapa, Korba, Surguja, Raigarh, and Bilaspur, will go to poll on May 7.
The election commission on Saturday announced that the election to 543 constituencies will be held in seven phases beginning April 19 and ending June 1, and the counting of polls will be held on June 4.
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The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking to rumble with the Congress for all 11 seats in Chhattisgarh after a victory in the state assembly elections held in December last year. In the 2023 assembly elections, the BJP won 54 seats and the Congress 35.
The Congress’s defeat was attributed to internal strife, with allegations of leaders resorting to manipulation in certain constituencies.
For the 11 state Lok Sabha seats, the BJP has declared candidates for all, dropping four sitting MPs and introducing an incumbent state minister into the mix. Three women leaders, including a former MP and a former MLA, are among them.
The Congress on the other hand has declared only six candidates, including leaders like former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, two former state ministers and a sitting MP. Baghel has been fielded from the Rajanandgaon constituency.
The upcoming general elections pose a huge challenge for the Congress as it has not fared well in the four parliamentary elections in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 in Chhattisgarh since the formation of the state in 2000.
The BJP had won 10 out of 11 Lok Sabha seats three times in 2004, 2009, and 2014 while Congress could only manage to win one. Despite facing a severe loss in the 2018 assembly election, the BJP managed to win nine out of 11 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
