Assembly elections are to be held in five states in November. People interested in politics are keeping a special eye on the elections of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. These three states are also being described as the semi-finals of the Lok Sabha elections to be held next year. Elections are to be held in Chhattisgarh in two phases. There is a Congress government in the state. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made a big move to woo the Other Backward Class (OBC) voters of the state. BJP has so far fielded 85 out of 90 candidates. Of these, 29 are OBC leaders. Let us understand its meaning
Number of OBC candidates can reach 32
BJP has announced the names of 85 candidates in Chhattisgarh. Candidates have not been announced for five seats. The party has so far fielded 29 OBC leaders and it is expected that out of the remaining 5 seats, BJP will field only OBC leaders on three. In this way the number of OBC leaders can reach 32. Let us tell you that in the 2018 elections, BJP had fielded 28 OBC candidates. Whereas Congress had given tickets to 26 OBC leaders. There are 40-45 percent OBCs in Chhattisgarh.
In Chhattisgarh, BJP has not yet announced the names of candidates for five seats – Ambikapur, Beltara, Kasdol, Bemetara and Pandariya. BJP had released the first list on August 17. The second list was released on Monday. BJP has so far given tickets to 16 ‘upper caste’ candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. These include seven Thakurs, five Brahmins, three Aggarwals and one Jain. Of the 85 seats for which the BJP has announced candidates so far, 29 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 10 seats for Scheduled Castes (SC).
Two former IAS officers also got tickets
The BJP has also given tickets to two former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers – OP Chaudhary and Neelkanth Tekam. Besides, three doctors – Krishnamurthy Bandhi, Khilwan Sahu and Dinesh Lal Jangde have been fielded. Among OBCs, the highest number of tickets were given to Sahu (10 candidates), followed by Kurmi (8), Rajwar (2), Yadav (2), Kalar (2) and others. In the last 2018 elections, BJP had given tickets to 14 Sahu candidates.
No ticket to any Muslim leader
A BJP leader said, ‘We are focusing on OBC voters because a large section of OBC voters voted for Congress in the last elections. This time his inclination is towards us. It is noteworthy that there are 29 reserved seats for ST in Chhattisgarh, but BJP has given tickets to 30 ST candidates. Candidates from the Gond tribe have been given the maximum 17 tickets, followed by Kanwar (4), Rathiya Kanwar (2), Bhatra (2), Halba (2), Christian Oraon (2) and Hindu Oraon (1). Till now BJP has not given ticket to any Sikh, Sindhi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Muslim leader.
What does it mean?
In Chhattisgarh, BJP is planning to come to power by attracting OBC voters. A BJP leader said that OBC voters had voted for Congress in the 2018 elections. In such a situation, now BJP wants to shift him to its side. For this reason, BJP is fielding more OBC candidates than last time. In the 2018 elections, BJP had fielded 28 OBC candidates. Till now BJP has given tickets to 29 OBC leaders and it is believed that after declaring the names on the remaining 5 seats, the number of OBC leaders can reach 32.