Elections 2014: BJP to recreate 2009 magic in Chhattisgarh

Himanshu Kapoor

Riding at the back of Modi wave, the BJP in Chhattisgarh looks set to retain the majority of seats. As per the various exit polls conducted, out of the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies, BJP is likely to bag 10 seats, while the main opposition party, Congress, will get the remaining one seat.  After the deadly Maoist attack, which nearly wiped most of its frontline leadership in the state, the Congress was seriously grappling with a leadership vacuum as there are number of claimants to lead the party. Since its creation, the politics of Chhattisgarh has been mainly a field for major political parties like The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). In the first General Elections in 2004 held after the creation of the state, people had opted for the Congress. In the 2009 LS polls, however, Chhattisgarh`s voters switched their allegiance to the BJP. In the BJP bastion of Chhattisgarh where Raman Singh was firmly in saddle, the saffron party won an impressive 10 of the 11 seats with Congress getting the remaining one that year.  Out of Chhattisgarh`s 11 Parliamentary Constituencies, four (Raigarh, Kanker, Surguja, and Bastar) are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and two (Bilaspur and Sarangarh) for Scheduled Castes.