The Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency is one of 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh. Lok Sabha elections here are set to take place in the second phase, on April 26, while counting is due on June 4.
The first Lok Sabha elections in Rajnandgaon were held in 2004 after the formation of Chhattisgarh as a separate state. Raman Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the seat. Singh was the Chief Minister of the state for 15 years, from 2003-18.
The BJP has been the dominant party in power in Rajnandgaon for the last three decades, and lost the seat only once in a 2007 by-poll to the Congress's Devwrat Singh.
This year, the Congress has selected former Chief Minister of the state Bhupesh Baghel to stand from the Rajnandgaon constituency. The nomination signals the Congress's intent to challenge the BJP's dominance in Rajnandgaon. However, the BJP has consistently widened its lead over the Congress in recent polls.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won nine of the 11 seats from Chhattisgarh, while the Congress was limited to only two seats.
Baghel's political career boasts multiple victories in the Patan constituency, where he has won Assembly elections numerous times. He also served as a minister in the Madhya Pradesh government under Digvijaya Singh. In the previous year's Assembly elections, Baghel secured victory in Patan with a significant margin, defeating his BJP opponent Vijay Baghel.
The BJP, meanwhile, has nominated sitting Member of Parliament Santosh Pandey for the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat. Pandey won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, succeeding Abhishek Singh, also of the BJP, and son of then-Chief Minister Raman Singh. Pandey hails from Kawardha district and was BJP’s state general secretary between 2014 and 2019. His early political career started as an RSS Karyakarta.
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