BJP wins nine Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, leads in another

Raipur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday won nine Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, one of which it wrested from the Congress, and maintained a lead in one more constituency in the state, the data by the Election Commission showed.

Congress’ sitting MP Jyotsna Mahant, wife of Leader of Opposition in the assembly Charandas Mahant, retained her Korba seat defeating BJP’s influential woman leader Saroj Pandey by a margin of 43,283 votes.

There are 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh.

In the high-profile Raipur seat, BJP’s influential leader and state minister Brijmohan Agrawal defeated Congress’s Vikas Upadhyay, a former MLA, by a record margin of 5,75,285 votes.

Agrawal secured 10,50,351 votes, while Upadhyay got 4,75,066 votes.

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress candidate Bhupesh Baghel suffered a defeat against BJP’s sitting MP Santosh Pandey in the crucial Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 44,411 votes.

In Durg, BJP’s sitting MP Vijay Baghel recorded a victory by defeating his nearest rival Rajendra Sahu of the Congress by a significant margin of 4,38,226 votes.

BJP candidate Chintamani Maharaj, a former MLA who switched over from the Congress before last year’s assembly polls, won by a margin of 64,822 votes against Congress’s Shashi Singh in the Scheduled Tribe (ST)-reserved Surguja constituency.

A major upset was witnessed in the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency where the BJP’s Mahesh Kashyap won by 55,245 votes against Congress’ influential tribal leader and former state minister Kawasi Lakhma. In 2019, Bastar was among the two seats won by the Congress.

In the lone SC-reserved Janjgir-Champa seat, BJP’s woman leader Kamlesh Jangde won by a margin of 60,000 votes against Congress candidate and former state minister Shivkumar Dahariya.

In the Mahasamund seat, BJP’s Rupkumari Chaudhary, a former MLA, won by a margin of 1,45,456 votes against Congress Tamradhwaj Sahu, a former state minister.