Chhattisgarh Election: Congress Counts On CM Baghel As BJP Looks To Wrest Back Tribal State

Chhattisgarh Election 2023: While BJP is looking to make a comeback in the state, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is trying hard to retain a second term in office. 

Chhattisgarh Elections 2023 ( Image Source :PTI )

The Congress-ruled state will undergo polls in two phases on November 7 and November 17. The current term of the 90-member Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly will end on January 3, 2024. While the Bharatiya Janata Party is looking to make a comeback in the state, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is trying hard for Congress to retain a second term in office. 

Part of the mineral-rich Chotanagpur region, Chhattisgarh is one of the states in India with highest tribal population. After Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, Chhattisgarh is home to 7.5 per cent of the total tribal population of the country. 

The state is rich in minerals like iron ore and limestone and the natural resources have been a pivot of speeches by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the poll campaign in the state. He has accused the BJP — which ruled the state for 15 years under the leadership of Raman Singh — of humiliating the tribal people and selling off the coal mines to big conglomerates. 

However, the last five years of Congress’ rule were not very smooth as the state witnessed a feud between Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo. 

Last year, Deo had resigned from the Panchayat and Rural development department, hinting that he was sidelined in the government

The sudden development was seen as the fallout of an old political rivalry between Baghel and Singh Deo, who had tried to project him as the chief minister in the past.

A neck-to-neck fight seems to be awaiting Congress and BJP as ABP CVoter Opinion Poll projects a seat range of 45 to 51 for Congress and 39 to 45 for BJP. 

The votes will be counted on December 3 along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Mizoram. 

In the 2018 Assembly polls, of the 90 seats, Congress had swept victory on 68 seats while BJP secured 15 seats while Ajit Jogi's Janta Congress Chhattisgarh won on 5 seats and Bahujan Samaj Party held two seats.