Shahdol, situated on the beautiful banks of Narmada, is very special in many respects. Be it about Narmada Parikrama or upliftment of tribals, the name of this parliamentary constituency comes up first. Shahdol Lok Sabha seat has been created by combining Umaria and Anuppur districts. In which some parts also come from Shahdol and Vidisha districts. There is also a confluence of Son River and Juhila River in this area which is very beautiful. Bansagar Dam has been built here on Son River. It itself attracts tourists. Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, famous for tigers in the entire country, also falls in this parliamentary constituency.
Narmada, the lifeline for Madhya Pradesh, also originates from Amarkantak in this region. There is a lot of movement of devotees here who do Parikrama of Narmada. Narmada Parikrama is highly recognized among the residents of Madhya Pradesh. There are many ancient Shiva temples and temples of other gods and goddesses built here, which are the centers of people’s faith and people come from far and wide to visit them. Apart from Hindu temples, this area is also a center of faith for Jain followers. Thousands of Jain devotees come here every year. Many ancient Jain temples are present here.
After Jhabua, this area has the highest number of tribals living in the entire Madhya Pradesh. The livelihood of the tribals living here is farming and animal husbandry. Here, there are fields in the middle of the forests, where incidents of movement of wild animals keep coming to light every day. Leopards, tigers and other dangerous animals are often seen in the fields here. Talking about religious places, there is a temple of Maa Kankali located in Antara village, which is a center of special faith among the local people. The Virateshwar temple dedicated to Lord Shiva built in Suhagpur is also very ancient and proven.
political structure
Shahdol Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh has also been made up of eight assembly constituencies, which include Jaisingh Nagar, Jaitpur, Kotma, Anuppur, Pushprajgarh, Bandhavgarh, Manpur, Badwara. Of these, except Pushparaj Garh, BJP has established its control in all of them. Except Kotma, all the assemblies are reserved for tribals. If we talk about the electoral history here, no single party has dominated here. However, since 1996, BJP established its foothold here and continuously strengthened it. In 2009, Congress had snatched this seat back from BJP, but in 2014, BJP regained it. After this, BJP has dominated here in one by-election and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
What happened in the last elections?
Talking about the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had given ticket to Himadri Singh, while Congress had fielded Pramila Singh as her rival. CPI and BSP had also fielded their candidates in the elections. About 12 lakh voters had voted in this election. Out of which BJP’s Himadri Singh got 7.47 lakh votes. Whereas Pramila of Congress had to be satisfied with only 3.44 lakh votes. Whereas CPI got about 33 thousand votes and BSP got about 20 thousand votes. In this election, around 20 thousand people had also chosen NOTA.
