In Chhattisgarh’s two key tribal LS seats, how BSP, CPI, smaller outfits dented Congress

The Hamar Raj and the Sarva Adi Dal also polled more votes than the victory margin. Hamar Raj party led by former Union Minister Arvind Netam, who was earlier with the Congress — along with his wife held the same seat five times from 1980 to 1998 — got 5,009 votes. The Sarva Adi Dal, a party formed by Chhattisgarh Christian Forum president Arun Panalal that was vocal against violence on Christian tribals polled 8,949 votes.

Bastar

In Bastar, NOTA was the third-most chosen option with 36,758 people opting for it. The NOTA’s share of the total valid votes polled was 3.65%, down from 4.56% in 2019.

Meanwhile, the CPI and the BSP together polled more votes — CPI polled 35,887 votes and the BSP 19,647 — than the 55,245-vote victory margin of the BJP’s Mahesh Kashyap. He defeated former minister Kawasi Lakhma of the Congress.

The vote share of the BJP shot up from 39.79 % in 2019 to 45.5% in 2024, while for Congress whose candidate Deepak Baij won the seat in 2019 the vote share fell from 44.05 % to 40.02%.

Taking a dig at BSP and CPI, Congress state communications chief Sushil Anand Shukla said, “In Chhattisgarh politics, BSP’s role is of cutting votes which has hurt the Congress. The BSP has no ethics left. It fields candidates that suit the BJP and hurts the Congress. Even the CPI despite being part of the INDIA alliance hurt us in Bastar but not by much and analysis is on to understand what went wrong in Bastar.”

Responding to Shukla, BSP’s state coordinator Omprakash Vajpayee said, “Why doesn’t the Congress end the BJP? Can it do that? It is just setting a narrative that we eat into its votes. Is there any democracy left in this country? These parties keep winning using money and muscle power. The two parties have been in power for generations but can they show me even one village in Chhattisgarh which has all the basic facilities? We are fighting for our rights and when people in future will find an alternative in us.”