Tapkara (ST)

The contest in Tapkara, a scheduled tribe reserved constituency will be watched keenly by observers as the BJP veteran and leader of BJP in the Chhattisgarh assembly Nand Kumar Sai will be seeking re-election.

The contest in Tapkara, a scheduled tribe reserved constituency will be watched keenly by observers as the BJP veteran and leader of BJP in the Chhattisgarh assembly Nand Kumar Sai will be seeking re-election. Sai had won from Tapkara for tree times, the first being in 1977.

HT Image

Apart from his image as a leader of the tribals Nand Kumar Sai has rose to great heights in his political career that includes being heading the BJP's Madhya Pradesh unit. Now, with the bifurcation of Chhattisgarh into a separate state Sai is among the few senior BJP leaders left in the new state.

What is surprising about Tapkara constituency is the fact that despite it being a tribal dominated constituency it has always voted against the Congress. Never has a Congress candidate been elected to the state assembly from here since 1967.

Year	Winner	Party	Runner-up	Party	Victory margin
1998	Nand Kumar Sai	BJP	Ishwar Sai	INC	10,734
1993	Vishnudeo Sai	BJP	Ishwar Sai	INC	3,444
1990	Vishnu Sai	BJP	Theodore Ekka	INC	14,566
1985	Nand Kumar Sai	BJP	Dineshwar Sai	INC	1,599
1980	Dineshwar Sai	INC	Nand Kumar Sai	BJP	1,823
1977	Nand Kumar Sai	JNP	JP Dhan Kanwar	INC	7,249
1972	Dineshwar Sai	BJS	Kedarnath Sai	INC	6,668
1967	Kedar Nath	BJS	Lochan Sai	INC	2,106

Detailed Results 1998