In Chhattisgarh, political parties started gearing up for the Khairagarh bypolls by declaring the names of candidates for the seat. BJP fielded OBC leader Komal Janghel to contest, ruling Congress party showed its confidence in Yashoda Verma while Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCJ) announced the name of advocate Narendra Soni as its official candidate.
Moreover, with the declaration of the names from prominent contesting political parties like BJP and Congress, Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCJ) the political fight converted into a triangular war.
Notably, the seat was running vacant with the demise of the MLA of Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCJ) Devwrat Singh in November 2021.
The MLA was the ex-veteran leader of the Congress party, the scion of the Khairagarh Royal family, joined JCJ when ex-CM Ajit Jogi formed his own party remained intact with the party even the party started showing the symptoms of debilitation, after the death of Jogi. Despite Devwrat Singh was four-time MLA from the Khairagarh seat, had a good influence on the ground, local people visualize him as a king, in his last assembly election 2018 he managed to win the Khairagarh assembly seat by defeating his close rival BJP candidate Komal Janghel by 870 votes only.
Soni is the brother-in-law of erstwhile leader Devwrat Singh. He is popular in masses for his advocacy campaign to declare Khairgarh as a district but still, analysts feel it is a very tough challenge for him to win the seat. He may be able to garner some sympathy votes, but predicting this time who will win is a tough job, analysts said.
BJP candidate Komal Janghel who also belongs to the Lodhi community got elected from the seat by winning by-poll elections in 2007 and assembly polls in 2008. However, he failed to maintain his charisma in 2013 and lost the seat to Congress candidate Girvar Janghel.
However, this time ruling Congress gave the ticket to Yoshada Verma, a former Zila Panchayat member belonging to the Lodhi community. When she filed her nomination a huge crowd accompanied her on the roads of Khairagarh. However, instead of seeing Verma as a Congress candidate, political pundits see her performance in the by-election as an acid test for Baghel’s policy in the state.
Moreover, bypolls for the Khairagarh assembly constituency will be held on April 12, 2022, the last date for the filing nomination was fixed as March 24 and after the counting of votes on April 16, finally, it will be known who won the battle.
