Chhattisgarh Assembly Shocker: Deputy CM Singh Deo loses by 94 votes, 8 ministers wiped out by BJP

In a major setback for the Congress in Chhattisgarh, Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo lost his seat by just 94 votes and other of the eight ministers were also swept away by the BJP. Singh Deo fell short by 94 votes against Rajesh Agrawal of the BJP.

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election Results 2023: The Assembly election results have been a setback for the ruling Congress party in Chhattisgarh as nine of its ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister TS Singh Deo, lost their respective seats on Sunday when the results were announced. Deo lost his seat in the assembly by 92 votes against Rajesh Agarwal of the BJP. Notably, in the parliamentary elections of this mandate, several saffron party leaders have made a comeback, including the surprise winner Ishwar Sahu, a simple farmer who was presented by the saffron party as a ‘symbol of justice’ after his son was killed in a communal incident. in Bemetara district this year. He surprisingly defeated seven-time MLA and minister Ravindra Choubey.

Besides Singh Deo and Choubey, some other ministers who could not secure victory include Mohammad Akbar, Tamradhwaj Sahu (Home Minister), Amarjeet Bhagat, Shiv Kumar Dahariya, Guru Rudra Kumar, Mohan Markam and Jaisingh Agrawal. Another significant loss was suffered by new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Deepak Baij, a Lok Sabha member who was defeated in Chitrakote. Interestingly, Baij had won the seat earlier in 2018 but gave it up to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Akbar, a four-time MLA who had earlier won the Kawardha seat by a record margin of over 59,000 votes, lost to the BJP’s Vijay Sharma, one of the prime suspects in the Kawardha communal violence in 2021. Sharma emerged victorious by a margin of 39,592 votes.

Adding to the surprises was the victory of former Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan Ramkumar Toppo, who defeated Minister Amarjeet Bhagat from Sitapur. This was the first time that the Congress had lost the seat since the formation of the state in 2003. Similarly, the Congress also lost the seat to Pali Tanakhar for the first time since 2003, this time to the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP).