Ratlam Lok Sabha seat, which was earlier known as Jhabua, is the area where the largest population of tribal community lives in Madhya Pradesh. Alirajpur and Jhabua districts have been completely included in Ratlam Lok Sabha. Some part of Ratlam district has also been included in it. The tribals living here are mainly dependent on agriculture and animal husbandry. However, in some places, artefacts made using tribal methods have been developed in the form of small industries. It is difficult for this Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh to be discussed and Kantilal Bhuria’s name not be mentioned. This seat has got recognition in the state and the country because of the name of veteran Congress leader Kantilal Bhuria.
There are many scenic and religious places in Ratlam district, the most famous of which is the old Lakshmi Mata Temple of Ratlam. There is a belief associated with this temple that every time during Diwali, many rich people of the city donate cash, gold and silver for the temple administration. During Diwali, the temple is decorated with this cash and gold and silver for two days. After this, cash and gold and silver worth crores of rupees are returned to those people. Doing this is considered very auspicious. Cactus Garden in Sailana is also an important tourist spot here.
If we talk about Jhabua, there are many tourist places here too, the most prominent of which is Hathipawa. This place is also called Kashmir of Jhabua. Haathipawa is a beautiful place amidst greenery from where many colors of nature are visible. There are places like Chiriyadana, Mordana which are favorite picnic spots for the local people. Apart from these, Hanuman Tekri, Matangi Dham, Roopgarh Reservoir are important places in Jhabua.
political structure
Ratlam Lok Sabha seat has been reserved for Scheduled Tribes. 8 assemblies have been included in this Lok Sabha seat. These include Alirajpur, Jobat, Jhabua, Thandla, Petalabad, Ratlam Rural, Ratlam City and Sailana. Of these assembly seats, 4 are held by BJP and 3 by Congress. The Bharatiya Adivasi Party candidate has won one assembly seat. If we talk about the history of this Lok Sabha seat, Congress has been dominant here since the beginning.
From 1952 to 2009, only once has the candidate of Janata Party and once of Samyukta Socialist Party won here. Congress has won in every other election here. Dilip Singh Bhuria contested elections from this seat from Congress for a long time and kept winning. After this, Congress gave a chance to Kantilal Bhuria from here. After which Kantilal Bhuria also won four times in a row. After this Dilip Singh Bhuria joined BJP and contested the elections on BJP ticket and won. But, due to his death, by-election was again held on this seat and Kantilal Bhuria again won the by-election. However, Bhuria lost the election to Guman Singh Damor in 2019.
What happened in the last elections?
If we talk about the last elections, BJP had given ticket to Guman Singh Damor from here. Whereas Congress once again expressed full confidence in Kantilal Bhuria. In this election, Guman Singh Damor got 696,103 votes, while Kantilal Bhuria of Congress got 6,05,467 votes. BJP’s Damor had given a massive defeat to Bhuria by a margin of 90,636 votes. Another big thing that came to light during this election was that 30,364 votes were cast on NOTA in this election. Which is too much.
