Mahasamund Lok Sabha seat is one of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country and 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh. Mahasamund has been a major center of politics of Chhattisgarh. Vidyacharan Shukla was elected MP from here 6 times. He has also reached Parliament from here once on Janata Dal ticket. Shyamacharan Shukla, brother of Vidyacharan Shukla and former Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh, has also been elected MP from here once. Along with this, Ajit Jogi, the first CM of Chhattisgarh, has also been the MP from Mahasamund. In the 19 Lok Sabha elections (including by-elections) held in Mahasamund, the Congress Party has won 12 times. Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency, once known as the fort of Congress, has been held by BJP for the last three times. Presently Chunni Lal Sahu is the MP from here.
Chunni Lal Sahu has defeated Dhanendra Sahu of Congress Party. While Chunni Lal Sahu got 50.44 percent votes, Congress’s Dhanendra Sahu got 43 percent. Here, independent Devendra Singh Thakur, who stood third, got 1.27 percent votes. Whereas BSP’s Dhansingh Kosaria, who stood fourth, got only 0.92 percent votes.
BJP’s third victory in 2019
BJP’s Chunni Lal Sahu defeated Congress party’s Dhanendra Sahu by 90,511 votes. While Chunni Lal Sahu got 616,580 votes, Congress’s Dhanendra Sahu got 5,26,069 votes, independent Devendra Singh Thakur, who stood third, got 43.06 percent votes. While BSP candidate Dhansingh Kosaria, who stood fourth, got 11245 votes. The third and fourth placed candidates got less than NOTA 21241 votes.
BJP had won in 2014 also
Earlier in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Chandulal Sahu had defeated Ajit Jogi of Congress Party by 1,217 votes in a tough contest. Here also there were candidates named Chandulal Sahu at third, fourth and fifth positions. Third place independent Chandulal Sahu got 20255 votes, fourth place Chandulal Sahu got 12308 votes and fifth place Chandulal Sahu got 10979 votes. In fact, in 2014, 11 Chandulal Sahu had filed nominations here along with BJP’s Chandulal Sahu. It is said that Ajit Jogi had fielded all the independent candidates Chandulal Sahu to defeat BJP’s Chandulal Sahu.
Electoral history of Mahasamund
The Congress Party had won the first 6 elections held in Mahasamund. In the first elections held here in 1952, Shyodas Daga of Congress had won. After this, Maganlal Radhakishan Bagri became MP in 1957 and Vidyacharan Shukla of Congress Party became MP in the elections held in 1962, 1964 and 1967. Krishna Aggarwal of Congress won in 1971, Brij Lal Verma of Janata Party in 1977, Vidyacharan Shukla won three consecutive times in 1980, 1984 and 1989. In 1980 and 1984, Shukla won on Congress ticket while in 1989, Vidyacharan Shukla won on Janata Dal ticket. BJP’s Pawan Diwan won in 1991 and 1996. Chandrashekhar Sahu of BJP in 1998, Shyamacharan Shukla of Congress in 1999. In 2004, Ajit Jogi of Congress and Chandulal Sahu of BJP became MPs here in 2009.
Mahasamund’s vote math
There are total 8 assembly seats in Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency – Dhamtari, Khallari, Saraipali Kurud, Basna, Dhamtari, Rajim and Mahasamund. Mahasamund Lok Sabha is spread over three districts – Dhamtari, Gariaband and Mahasamund. There are a total of 16,37,951 voters in which the number of male voters is 8,24,241 while the number of female voters is 8,13,688 and third gender voters are 22. Talking about caste equation, there is majority of Kurmi, Aghariya, Yadav and Kolta voters in Mahasamund. Here Scheduled Tribe is about 20%, Scheduled Caste is about 11%. 51% percent of the voters in this Lok Sabha constituency are from other backward classes. BJP has given ticket to Roop Kumari Choudhary here in 2024 while Tamradhwaj Sahu is in the fray from Congress party.
Kund Shwet Ganga very popular place
The special identity of Mahasamund parliamentary constituency, situated on the banks of Mahanadi river, is the international tourist destination Sirpur and Gangrel Dam. There has been a continuous demand to include Sripur Sirpur, the capital of Southern Kaushal, in the list of World Heritage. The temples here attract people due to their natural beauty. The continuously flowing pond of White Ganga in Bamhani village is a popular place.
