People wait in a queue to cast their votes for the first phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections at Jagdalpur, in Bastar district on November 7, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chhattisgarh, a heavy forested state that gained autonomy in 2000 is undergoing high voltage elections, with the fate of 20 seats already sealed in first fray, votes for which were polled on November 7.
With the remaining 70 seats set to undergo the high-stake test on November 17, here's a look at the Assembly segments that have historically witnessed a tight fight, with outcomes usually swinging in an unpredictable direction.
2003 Assembly Elections
The first Assembly elections to be held after Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 were such that the fate of almost 21 out of 90 Assembly segments were decided by the finest of margins—under 3 per cent. Fifteen out of these 21 segments had win margins of less than 2 per cent while in almost eight constituencies, the margins remained well below 1 percent - a trend that points towards the unsettled and precarious nature of the first election. The number of segments with margin less than 1 per cent decreased to 2 by 2018, as parties and leaders gradually established themselves.
Rajnandgaon, Abhanpur, Sipat, Baloda Bazar are four unreserved Assembly segments where victory margins were less than 1 per cent in 2003. Sipat was won by the BJP while all the other three were swept by Indian National Congress.
Lundra, Pathalgaon and Rampur were the three ST reserved constituencies where too the win margins were below 1 per cent, with the fate of the candidates being decided by 42, 317, and 380 votes respectively. Vijay Nath and Nanki Ram of the BJP claimed victories in Lundra and Rampur while Rampukar Singh of INC won from Pathalgaon.
2008 Assembly Elections
In 2008, 18 Assembly segments saw win margins of less than 3 per cent, with five seeing extremely close fights wherein the margins were well below 1 per cent.
Antagarh (ST reserved), Konta (ST reserved), Korba (General), Durg City (Gen) and Ambikapur (Gen) saw the closest fights and were decided by mere 109, 192, 587, 702 and 948 votes respectively.
Durg City and Antagarh were won by BJP candidates Hemchand Yadav and Vikram Usendi respectively, while INC's Lakhma Kawasi, Jai Singh Bhaiya and TS Singh Deo claimed the Konta, Korba and Ambikapur segments respectively.
2013 Assembly Elections
In 2013, 13 seats registered saw win margins below 3 per cent, with Takhatpur and Mohala Manpur won by BJP and INC respectively by margins of 0.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively.
Baikhuntpur, Dongargaon, Kawardha, Raipur City Gramin and Khairagarh, all unreserved constituencies, also witnessed a close fight in 2013 as margins of victory remained well below 1.5 per cent mark. Dongragaon, Raipur Gramin and Khairagarh were claimed by Congress while the other two went to BJP.
2018 Assembly Elections
Dhamtari, Khairagarh, Baloda Bazar, Akaltara, four unreserved assembly segments, witnessed extremely close fights in 2018. Ranjana Dipendra Sahu of BJP, Devwrat Singh of JCC(J), Pramod Kumar Sharma of JCC(J) and Saurabh Singh of BJP claimed victory by margins of mere 0.3 per cent, 0.5 per cent, 1.1 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Kondagaon, an ST reserved constituency was won by Mohan Markam of INC by a margin of 1.4 per cent, and he has once again been entrusted to claim victory for the grand old party in a tight-contest seat.
The counting for the elections are scheduled to be on December 3.