Chhattisgarh Election Results: Will BJP choose a woman or an OBC leader to head the state?

The state of Chhattisgarh has bucked the exit poll predictions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) poised to win the polls with a rather huge margin over the Congress. The BJP has secured a win in 56 seats in the state, while the Congress has been left with only 33.

Incidentally, this is BJP’s biggest win in the state, since it was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000. In the Assembly elections held for the first time in Chhattisgarh in 2003, BJP won 50 seats and in subsequent polls in 2008 and 2018, then Chief Minister Raman Singh led the party to bag 50 seats and 49 seats (41.04 per cent votes), respectively and ruled the state for an uninterrupted 15 years.

In 2018, the BJP suffered a massive defeat at the hands of Congress and was reduced to 15 seats.

With the results being almost official, it’s time for the BJP to decide on its chief ministerial candidate. Notably, the party had not pitched any leader from the party’s state unit as the face of the campaign, which now has everyone asking – ‘Kaun Banega CM?’

We take a closer look at the politics in the state and get you some of the probables who could sit on the chief minister’s chair very soon.

Raman Singh

A former chief minister of the state, Raman Singh is one of the leading chief ministerial candidates. In his days of power, the 71-year-old politician gained the moniker ‘Chaaur wale baba’ for giving cheap rice to the poor for Rs 2-3 per kg.

He is also known as a popular Hindu face, enjoying the support of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and also enjoys popularity among the upper caste voters of the state.

Contesting from his turf of Rajnandgaon, he is also set for a huge win in the constituency – he has gained nearly 48,000 votes against his closest contender, Congress’ Girish Dewangan.

Speaking earlier about the BJP’s win in the state, he was quoted as saying, “After travelling across Chhattisgarh, I felt people are fed up with Bhupesh government’s corruption and a change will happen.

“I knew people will reject Bhupesh’s (Baghel) ego. The results reflect people’s trust in Modi ji’s guarantee,” he added.

However, there’s one roadblock to Singh’s probable return to power; he faces allegations of corruption, misgovernance and involvement in the multi-crore Public Distribution System (PDS) scam.

Arun Sao

In the running to be chief minister is also 54-year-old Arun Sao. He started his political career as a volunteer for the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and has served as the BJP’s district president, state co-secretary, and ABVP’s National Working Committee member.

Contesting from the Lormi seat, Sao has won the election against his closest rival, Congress’ Thaneshvar Sahu, with 45,891 votes. Sao is also considered to be a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He was instrumental in reviving the party’s fortunes in the state after the 2018 debacle.

Perhaps, one of the biggest factors in his favour is that he is a known OBC face and that this section of people makes up about half of the state’s population.

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Vishnu Deo Sai

The BJP’s tribal face in the state is also a possible candidate for the CM position. Sai’s political career began when he was elected unopposed as Sarpanch of Bagia village.

Sai has also won the Kunkuri with a margin of 25,541 votes making him a probable candidate in the chief ministerial race. He has served as the president of the BJP’s Chhattisgarh unit thrice, from 2006 to 2010, from 2014 to 2014 and from 2020 to 2022. He is known for his organisational skills and his rapport with the party workers.

He was also the former Union Minister of State for Steel and is the state’s sole representative to be sworn in as a minister in the Modi administration.

OP Choudhary

Another name doing the rounds is OP Choudhary, a Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer of the 2005 batch who ran against Congress’ Prakash Shakrajeet Naik in Raigarh.

The young leader joined the BJP in 2018 after leaving the IAS after a 13-year career. The Quint reports that despite having won no elections till date, Choudary is popular and credited with the establishment of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Education City in the Maoist-affected district of Dantewada. This large academic facility grew during his stint as Dantewada’s district magistrate between 2011 and 2013.

He’s also credited with implementing several welfare schemes in the state such as the ‘Nanhe Parindey’ programme for the education of slum children, the ‘Narva, Garva, Ghurva, Bari’ programme for the conservation of water, forest and land resources, and the ‘Sanjivani’ programme for the health care of the rural population.

Renuka Singh

The current minister of state for tribal affairs in the Modi government, Renuka Singh is also being considered as the next chief minister of the state. She is also an influential leader among the tribal community.

With inputs from agencies