Mandla Lok Sabha seat falling in Mahakaushal region of Madhya Pradesh is very important in many respects. There was a time when this seat was one of the safest seats for Congress in Madhya Pradesh. But gradually Congress lost its presence on this seat and BJP strengthened its hold. Faggan Singh Kulaste has won elections from Mandla Lok Sabha seat continuously from 1996 to 2004. In 2009, Congress had captured this seat back but in 2014, Kulaste won again and he won the 2019 elections also in the name of BJP. Like Shahdol, this parliamentary constituency is also filled with beautiful ghats from Narmada.
Kanha National Park, famous for wild life throughout the country and abroad, is in Mandla itself. Every year thousands of domestic and foreign tourists come here to visit. Everyone gets mesmerized after seeing the natural beauty here. If we talk about other tourist places here, there are very beautiful ghats of Narmada, just three kilometers away from Mandla city, which is known as Sahastra Dhara. It is said that from here Narmada flows in thousands of streams which form many small and big waterfalls. Their beauty is palpable just by looking at them. Here the Narmada river flows meandering through black granite stones and basalt.
Apart from these, the palaces of Ramnagar which contain historical heritage in Mandla are also worth seeing. Here there is Moti Mahal, Rai Bhagat Ki Kothi, Begum Mahal and the famous Vishnu Temple. Vishnu temple was established by Sundari Devi, wife of King Hridaya Shah. The shape of its peak is dome-shaped, although there is no idol in this temple now. Many ghats of Narmada are also very beautiful and famous among them are Rapta Ghat, Rangrej Ghat, Boat Ghat, Kila Ghat, Hanuman Ghat, Nana Ghat etc. A hot water pond is also famous here.
political machinations
This seat was elected in 1952, since then Congress has had a strong hold here. Mangru Ganu Uike of Congress had won the election from here for the first time. After this, Congress has been continuously winning the Lok Sabha elections here. In 1977, Shyamlal Dhurve contested elections from Janata Party and won. However, after this this seat again went to Congress. The last time Congress won elections from here was in 1991, in which Mohan Lal Jhikram won for the third consecutive time.
In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Faggan Singh Kulaste captured this seat. After this, BJP’s roots continued to grow here. After winning four consecutive times, in 2009, Basori Singh Masram again returned this seat to Congress. However, in 2014, Kulaste made a comeback and won twice in a row. Faggan Singh is the most trusted name for BJP on Mandla seat.
What happened in the last elections?
Talking about the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Faggan Singh Kulaste was standing from BJP while Congress had given ticket to Kamal Singh Maravi. In this election, GGP i.e. Gondwana Republic Party had also fielded its candidate. The election results had ruined all the hard work of Congress here. Faggan Singh of BJP had defeated Marawi of Congress by about 1 lakh votes. Faggan got 7.37 lakh votes in this election, while Kamal Singh Maravi got 6.38 lakh votes. Whereas GGP’s Ramgoolam had to be satisfied with only 48 thousand votes.
