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ELECTIONS '96

BJP, Congress make dents in each others strongholds

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which bagged 30 Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, won the maximum seats in its citadel, the Madhya Bharat region.

Besides, it has made a strong dent in the Congress stronghold of Chhattisgarh.

The party won the Indore, Ujjain, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandsaur, Shajapur Bhopal, Vidisha, Betul, Hoshangabad, Guna, Bhind and Morena seats in the Madhya Bharat region.

Seven seats in Chhattisgarh, too, fell into the BJP kitty -- namely, Durg, Bilaspur, Mahasamund, Bastar, Kanker, Raipur and Sarguja.

Further, the saffron party routed the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the Vindhya region to wrest Satna, Rewa and Sidhi, and retain Shahdol.

The Jabalpur, Mandla and Balaghat constituencies of Mahakaushal region, and Sagar, Damoh and Khajuraho in Bundelkhand also went to the BJP.

The ruling Congress, for its part, bagged four seats each of Madhya Bharat and Chhattisgarh and two seats of Mahakaushal, thus winning a total of 10 seats. In Madhya Bharat, Congress candidates emerged victorious in Gwalior, Dhar, Jhabua and Rajgarh, while it was Rajnandgoan, Sarangarh, Jangir and Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. And in Mahakaushal, Chhindwara and Seoni stood by the Congress.

Of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats, 16 are in Madhya Bharat, 11 in Chhattisgarh, six in Mahakaushal and seven each in Vindhya and Bundelkhand.

Interestingly, both the BJP and the Congress have made inroads into each other's strongholds this time.

The Congress wrested Rajnandgaon, Janjgir, Raigarh, Chhindwara, Seoni and Dhar from the BJP. The BJP, for its part, took the Mahasamund, Bastar, Kanker, Sarguja, Balaghat, Sidhi seats, and the entire Vindhya region.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, which won two seats last time, suffered a major set back when the BJP wrested the Rewa and Satna seats.

Senior Congress leader and former Uttar Pradesh governor Motilal Vora (Rajnandgaon), former Union minister Kamal Nath (Chhindwara), Ajit Jogi (Raigarh), former Union minister Vimla Verma (Seoni) and state Home Minister Charan Das Mahant (Janjgir) were among those who wrested seats from the BJP.

Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi of the Congress wrested the Dhar seat from the BJP, winning his maiden election to the Lok Sabha. The BJP had fielded Hemlata Darbar after her husband Chatar Singh Darbar's nomination papers were rejected on account of a past conviction.

Chandra Shekhar Sahu, a former BJP legislator, wrested the Mahasamund seat, once considered a Congress stronghold. Baliram Kashyap (Bastar), Sohan Potai (Kanker), former Union minister Larang Sai (Sarguja), Jagganth Singh (Sidhi) and legislator Gauri Shankar Bisen (Balaghat) are among the others who wrested seats from the Congress.

Former Madhya Pradesh minister Ramanand Singh and Chandra Mani Tripathi wrested the Satna and Rewa seats from the BSP.

In the 1996 election, the BJP had won 27 seats -- 14 in Madhya Bharat, six in Chhattisgarh, three each in Mahakaushal and Bundelkhand and one in Vindhya.

Later, the BJP also took the Chhindwara seat in the 1997 by-election when former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa won by a margin of about 37,000 votes.

The Congress had won eight seats in the last election, including Rajgarh and Jhabua in Madhya Bharat, Kanker, Mahasamund, Sarangarh and Sarguja in Chhattisgarh and Balaghat and Chhindwara of Mahakaushal.

UNI

Elections '98

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