Chhattisgarh Assembly Election Results 2023: Did scams play important role in the outcome?

Until a few months ago, the election campaign was a steep climb for BJP, which has slumped to 15 seats in the 2018 assembly polls after being in power for 25 years in the state

With BJP taking a comfortable lead in the Chhattisgarh assembly Elections 2023 over Congress political experts are debating whether the various scams highlighted by BJP play a crucial part in the voters’ minds.

The party was leading in 54 seats, while Congress was trailing behind with lead in 35 seats, according to the Election Commission website at 12.30 pm.

Ahead of the second phase of assembly elections, BJP has cited marathon raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a coal scam, then a liquor scam and the Mahadev betting app, to accuse Congress and Chief Minister M Bhupesh Baghel of massive corruption. With respect to the Mahadev app, the allegation is that there is an undue benefit the party and its CM received to the tune of Rs 508 crore from the betting app promoters.

In the custom rice milling scam, the ED had alleged that a former managing director of the state MARKFED and some office-bearers of the state rice millers’ association, including treasurer Roshan Chandrakar, district marketing officers (DMOs) and a few rice millers generated Rs 175 crore bribes for the “benefit of higher powers”.

The ED’s investigation in the alleged mineral fund scam, found that an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.

The PCS scam revolves around the results of the 2021 Civil Services Examination conducted by the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (PSC), which were released in June this year. BJP accused the Chattisgarh PSC of nepotism, alleging that relatives of several government officials have been selected unfairly. They also claimed that the selection process lacked transparency and proper procedure was not followed. The Chattisgarh PSC, however, refuted the allegations.

Banking on the developments, the BJP unleashed its campaign machinery focusing on the incumbent government’s alleged involvement in the misdoings. Union Home Minister Amit Shah released an “Aarop Patra” (chargesheet) against the Bhupesh Baghel government in Chhattisgarh, accusing it of indulging in scams and loot and committing atrocities against the people of the state, where elections are due by the year-end. He had also accused Baghel of making Chhattisgarh an “ATM of Gandhi Parivar”, and claimed that his government had broken “all records of corruption”.

“The state was governed by the BJP for 15 years, during which we worked to fulfil Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s dream of a developed Chhattisgarh. But the Congress, which came to power in 2018, formed a government of loot, corruption, scams, and breaches of promises, due to which development stalled,” he said during an election rally in Raipur.

Until a few months ago, the election campaign was a steep climb for BJP, which has slumped to 15 seats in the 2018 assembly polls after being in power for 25 years in the state.

While it cannot be said with absolute certainty that the scams did influence the outcome of the results, the possibility cannot be ruled out either.