Bilaspur Lok Sabha constituency

Lakhan Lal Sahu of BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the Bilaspur constituency. (Photo: Twitter/@sahu_lakhanlal)

Bilaspur is one of 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh and will cast vote in the third phase of the election this year - on April 23.

Bilaspur Lok Sabha constituency comprises of eight assembly segments - Kota, Lormi, Mungeli (SC), Takhatpur, Bilha, Bilaspur, Beltara and Masturi (SC).

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, BJP's Lakhan Lal Sahu defeated Karuna Shukla, who had joined Congress a year earlier. Changing parties did not change the political fortunes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece as Karuna lost by a margin of 1.76 lakh votes.

In the 2009 election, BJP's Dilip Singh Judeo had defeated Renu Jogi, wife of former state CM Ajit Jogi. The BJP had won by a margin of over 20,000 votes.

Such has been the dominance of the party here that BJP has not lost a single Lok Sabha election from Bilaspur constituency since 1996. Punnulal Mohle stamped BJP's dominance by becoming MP for four consecutive times.

The total size of electors in the Bilaspur Lok Sabha constituency is over 17 lakh.