Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The festival of democracy wrapped up in the state of Madhya Pradesh on May 13, and now people are gearing for the results. The future of the country for the next five years depends on who is able to reach the majority mark on June 4.
Zooming in to Madhya Pradesh, there are 29 Lok Sabha constituencies divided into five regions. The east MP, mostly dominated by tribals, is all set up for an interesting battle. Here, Shahdol is seeing a keen contest between Congress MLA Phundelal Singh Marko and BJP sitting MP Himadri Singh.
Shahdol constituency consists of eight assembly constituency segments. These assemblies are in Anuppur, Umaria, Shahdol, and Katni districts. Out of eight, only one assembly seat has a non-BJP leader.
It's MLA vs. MP in Shahdol.
Both the candidates pitted by the ruling and the opposition parties are seasoned politicians. BJP's Himadri Singh won the 2019 Lok Sabha Election from this seat and is now fighting to retain her throne.
Similarly, Congress leader Phundelal Singh Marko has an expansive political career and is a Congress stalwart. Marko was first elected in '94 as a member of the district panchayat Shahdol.
The BJP ruled this seat for more than a decade before losing it to the INC's Rajesh Nandini Singh in the 2009 general elections. Congress' rule did not last long, as in the very next election, the BJP bagged the seat and has exerted power over Shahdol ever since.
What does the data say?
2019 Lok Sabha
The 2019 Lok Sabha was an easy battle for the ruling party, as they had had power in the constituency since 2009 and had a strong candidate in the face of Himadri Singh. The BJP stalwart won the electoral battle by bagging 7,46,122 votes as compared to INC's Pramila Singh, who could only amass 3,43,553 votes.
The win margin was a very big one, and people were not surprised as the BJP had been performing like this in every other constituency in the state.
2014 Lok Sabha
The 2014 Lok Sabha Elections saw a tight battle during the election period, but the results were in favour of the saffron party. Ruling party candidate Dalpat Singh Paraste amassed 5,24,876 votes and won the electoral race against the opposition's Rajesh Nandini Singh.
Singh, who is a seasoned politician and broke the BJP winning streak in 2009, lost to the saffron party by a margin of 2,40,964 votes.
Voter data and analysis
According to the data, Shahdol has over 16 lakh eligible electors, with a near-equal split in the gender ratio.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha, out of 16 lakh eligible electors, only 12 lakh electors actually became voters by performing their due diligence. This marks a voter turnout of approximately 74%. This was a huge 12% jump from the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
What do opinion polls say?
Shahdol has been a BJP stronghold since the 90's, and the ruling party has been in power for the maximum yeara since the '96 election. The only time the BJP ceased to rule was in the 2009 election, when Congress won the seat.
According to the India TV CNX polls, the saffron party is set to do a clean sweep in the state and gain power in all 29 constituencies.
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