Chhattisgarh: BJP's Tokhan Sahu to contest against Congress leader Devendra Yadav from Bilaspur

Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) [India], May 4 (ANI): Bilaspur, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bastion for over 3 decades, along with six other Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh will go to polls on May 7 in the third phase of General Elections.
The Bilaspur constituency is set to witness a contest between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tokhan Sahu and Congress leader Devendra Yadav.
The Bilaspur Lok Sabha constituency includes eight Assembly seats, which include Surguja, Raigarh, Janjgir-Champa, Korba, Bilaspur, Durg, and Raipur.
BJP had registered victory in the seat in both the 2019 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Out of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh, the BJP bagged nine seats in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, while the Congress won two of them.
During the 2019 elections, BJP's Arun Sao defeated Congress' Atal Srivastava with a margin of 1,41,763 votes. Sao emerged victorious, receiving 634,559 votes and Congress' Srivastava received 492,796 votes coming in the secondsecond after Sao.
In 2019, the Bilaspur constituency had 1,811,606 electors and 1,209,434 valid votes.
The total voter turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha election stood at 73.8%, indicating a significant level of civic engagement in the electoral process.
In 2014, BJP's Lakhan Lal Sahu won with 561,387 votes, with Congress' Congress' Karuna Shukla coming in second.
Since 1989, the BJP has dominated this region. The BJP has won this seat in eight out of the last nine elections (excluding 1991). BJPs Punnulal Mohle has won four consecutive times from Bilaspur.
Earlier, Following the announcement on March 2 of his candidature from Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur for the Lok Sabha polls 2024, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tokhan Sahu, asserted that only Narendra Modi can take the country forward and BJP can fulfil the aspirations of the country.
"I want to thank the central and state leadership. The whole country has faith in PM Modi. Only Narendra Modi can take this country forward. The government has worked in every sector. Only PM Modi's government can fulfil the aspirations of the country," Sahu said.
The first list of 195 candidates released by the BJP on March 2 included the name of all BJP candidates on all 11 seats in Chhattisgarh which include--Chintamani Maharaj, Radheshyam Rathia, Kamlesh Jangde, Saroj Pandey, Tokhan Sahu, Santosh Pandey, Vijay Baghel, Brijmohan Agarwal, Roop Kumari Choudhary, Mahesh Kashyap and Bhojraj Nag.
Polling took place in Bastar in the first phase on April 19 while Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund and Kanker voted in the second phase on April 26.
Meanwhile, Congress fielded Devendra Yadav, a two-time MLA from the Bhilai Nagar Assembly seat from Bilaspur in its seventh list on March 26. The list also includes the names of candidates, Shashi Singh from Surguja, Dr. Menka Devi Singh from Raigarh and Biresh Thakur from Kanker.
After his candidature, Devendra Yadav said, "I thank the top leadership of the Congress that they considered me worthy of this. I will fulfil the responsibility given by the party with full morality."
Last year, Yadav was chargesheeted by ED in a case related to the alleged coal levy scam. Earlier this month, the Chhattisgarh HC rejected his anticipatory bail plea.
The BJP for the rest of the seats in Chhattisgarh, will vote on April 26 and May 7. The counting of votes will be done on June 4.
The state of Chhattisgarh grapples with several issues, like inflation and unemployment. To please the voters, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, ahead of the Lok Sabah elections in March, said there will be a 4 per cent increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) for government officials in the state.
Hailing 'Modi Ki Guarantee' (Modi's guarantee), the chief minister said the promise of procuring 21 quintals of paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal has been fulfilled.
"PM Modi guaranteed the formation of a five-member committee that will review the demands and problems of contractual workers," he said. (ANI)