Raipur: A higher voter turnout of 77 per cent was recorded on Tuesday in the bypoll to Marwahi Assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh. The bypoll for the seat was necessitated following the death of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLA and former chief minister Ajit Jogi on May 29.
As JCC (J) has announced to support BJP, political pundits are now analyzing how many votes Amit Jogi and his supporters will manage to get in favour of BJP. Ever since the establishment of Chhattisgarh state, the Jogi family has had a stronghold here and they have been firmly settled. Ajit and Amit Jogi have not only won the elections but have also defeated their nearest rivals by huge margins.
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A look at the results of the last election:
A - The 2003 Assembly Election-
Total Voting - 78.16%
Ajit Jogi - 69.72%
Nandkumar Sai - 20.22%
B - 2008 Assembly Election-
Total Voting - 75.53%
Ajit Jogi - 55.95%
Dhyan Singh Porte - 21.07%
C - 2013 Assembly Election-
Total Voting - 83.92%
Amit Jogi – 58%
Sameera Packra - 26%
D - 2018 Assembly Election-
Total Voting - 81.06%
Ajit Jogi - 49.64%
Archana Porte - 18.49%
Gulab Singh - 13.43%
It can be seen that the Congress was third in the last elections. BJP was second with 18.49 per cent votes. The BJP candidates managed to get 20 to 22 per cent of the votes, while the Jogi camp averaged over 50 per cent. In such a situation, if Amit manages to transfer even 25 per cent votes from his camp, then it will be a close contest.
Marwahi-Pendra-Gorella bordering Madhya Pradesh has recently been given district status by the state government. This was a very old demand from this area and it was fulfilled by Bhupesh Baghel as soon as he came to power. The local people had highly appreciated this move of the government. In this election, the Congress can be benefitted from this. Apart from this, as is often seen in the by-elections, the party whose government is in power in the state gets an advantage; this factor can also be seen here and the Congress stands to gain from this directly.
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The Jogi family has had a direct connection with the people of this region and in a way an emotional bond. After the death of Ajit Jogi, there was a kind of goodwill with the JCC (J), but Amit and Richa Jogi left the election ground on account of rules and regulations. After this, Amit Jogi and Renu Jogi continued to maintain relations with the people.
They demanded justice and claimed that injustice was being meted out to their family. In the final phase of the election campaign, the JCC (J) had announced support to the BJP. And they have demanded justice from the public of Marwahi. The Jogi family has tried its best to instil emotions into the hardcore election battle. However, whether this will give them success is yet to be seen.
