R Krishna Das
Raipur, April 16
Normally, an opposition party losing a by-election to a ruling party is not a big buzz in the political cauldron. But the thumping victory of Chhattisgarh’s ruling party Congress in Khairagarh by-election has put the opposition BJP in a fix.
Tension has started crackling in the saffron circle. It is not because of the defeat of BJP but the changing political equation that can cast its shadow in the Chhattisgarh state polls due next year.
The Congress candidate, Yashoda Verma polled 87879 votes while BJP’s Komal Janghel bagged 67703 votes—a huge margin of 20,176 votes. The latter has received over 7000 votes more compared to the 2018 state polls. Despite retaining its traditional votes and polling more, the BJP still has a reason to worry.
For, the vote share of Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (Jogi) (JCC-J) has drastically come down from 36.66 per cent to 0.74 per cent in the by-election compared to 2018 general election. In the last assembly elections, JCC-J candidate Devwrat Singh won the seat by bagging 61401 votes and defeated his nearest BJP candidate Komal Janghel by a margin of just 940 votes. Congress candidate Girwar Janghel stood third with 31663 votes; sharing 18.66 per cent of the total polled.
The demise of Singh, a former Congressman and member of the Khairagarh royal family, facilitated the mid-term poll in the constituency.
The by-election results announced today have thrown up surprises as the JCC-J bagged just 1222 votes. It is worrisome for the BJP as the analysis underlines a major chunk of JCC-J votes in Kharigarh going into the Congress kitty.
The BJP’s vote share has remained intact compared to 2018 general election and mid-term polls. But the Congress consolidated its share from 18.66 per cent to 52.97 per cent. It clearly indicates that the JCC-J votes have diverted to the Congress though the BJP too got a marginal share.
If Kharigarh is any indication, the BJP may find it a daunting task to take on Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in the 2023 state polls. The BJP has been banking on the division of Congress votes. It was evident since 2003, when late Vidya Charan Shukla deserted Congress and joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) that contested the election.
NCP bagged 7 per cent votes and ousted the Congress government-led by Ajit Jogi paving way for the BJP to come to power. In the 2018 elections, Jogi’s party contested for the first time since inception in 2016 and bagged 7.61 per cent votes but failed to overpower the strong anti-incumbency against the BJP.
Following the death of Ajit Jogi in May 2020, the JCC-J has been desperately trying to keep its house in order. The party has won five seats including Khairagarh in the last election. If JCC-J further fades, the Khairagarh equation could be repeated across the state. And with its vote share going to the Congress basket, going may get tough for the BJP.
