Raipur: The BJP’s efforts to end its 22-year electoral drought at the Marwahi assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh have received a major shot in the arm with the cancellation of the nomination filed by Amit Jogi, son of former chief minister Ajit Jogi.
A bypoll for the Marwahi seat, necessitated by the death of Ajit Jogi in June, is scheduled to be held on 3 November. The Jogi family has held the seat since 2001.
The Election Commission, however, Saturday rejected the nomination papers filed by Amit Jogi, who heads the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh, and his wife Richa, after the state’s high-powered caste scrutiny committee cancelled his tribal caste certificate on 16 October.
Marwahi is a constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs).
BJP leaders are now hopeful that given the unceremonious nature in which he has been sent out of the poll race, Amit Jogi may extend support to the party to defeat the ruling Congress.
“In this context, some party leaders want Amit Jogi to take first initiative and only then they will take the matter forward,” a senior BJP leader told ThePrint. “The Jogi family has a large support base in Marwahi and we should take advantage of their anger towards the Congress party.”
Speaking to ThePrint, Amit Jogi remained non-committal on supporting the BJP but said the public will surely avenge the treatment meted out to him by the Congress party and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
“On 16 October, the high-powered caste scrutiny committee suddenly revoked my caste certificate in an overnight decision. Everyone, except me, was aware of this,” he said.
Amit added that he had sought time from the returning officer to present his case but was denied that. “He (the officer) cancelled my nomination on direct orders from the chief minister,” he said. “This is an affront to the entire populace of Marwahi. Even after doing everything he could, this was the only tactic by which the chief minister could have avoided his defeat. They think that by wrestling alone they are sure to win the bout but the public should never be considered so feeble and dim-witted.”
The controversy over his caste has been on for a while. The Bhupesh Baghel government had declined to accept him as a member of the tribal community way back in August 2019, even when Ajit Jogi was the incumbent Marwahi MLA.
The CM said Monday he welcomed the decision of the committee.
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BJP banking on Jogi for support
With Jogi out of the poll fray, the BJP believes it is in pole position to win the byelections but wants the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh chief to back it.
“The BJP has always had a strong organisation in Marwahi, which is evident from the results of the last five elections too. We always ended up as runners-up in all those elections. However, this time the electoral circumstances have completely changed here,” Leader of Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly, the BJP’s Dharamlal Kaushik said.
“For the first time since 1998, we are in a strong position to win this seat again,” he added. “The Congress’s undemocratic manners and political obstinacy are the main reasons behind cancellation of Amit Jogi’s nomination papers, which will surely benefit the BJP.”
Kaushik added: “As long as Jogi was in Congress, he remained a tribal, but soon after leaving the Congress, he is no longer a tribal. Now the Congress will have to explain as to how long it will continue to cheat the people by resorting to such double-standard politics.”
State BJP president Vishnudev Sai also believes the development will benefit the party.
“Except 2018, Jogi family members have always contested elections from Marwahi on a Congress ticket. BJP kept coming second,” Sai said. “During the 2018 assembly elections, when Ajit Jogi contested after splitting from the Congress party, we were still at number two and the Congress candidate was relegated to No 3 position.”
He added: “The BJP will surely benefit from the way the government has treated the Jogi family. There is considerable anger among his supporters due to which they want to defeat Congress.”
The BJP last won from Marwahi in 1998, when it was still a part of Madhya Pradesh. After Chhattisgarh was formed in 2000, then BJP MLA Ramdayal Uike resigned from the party as well as from the state legislature in favour of Ajit Jogi, the state’s first chief minister.
Jogi won the by-election held in 2001 and his family has since then held the assembly constituency.
What BJP failed to do in 15 yrs, we did in 18 months: CM
Speaking on the matter Monday, CM Baghel said the BJP would call Ajit Jogi a “fake tribal” and fought the first state assembly elections in 2003 making this a poll issue, but took 15 years to probe the matter after coming to power.
“We have done in 18 months what they could not do in 15 years. We all know their association,” Baghel said, adding that the BJP must welcome the decision of the high-powered probe committee.
Party spokesperson Vikas Tiwari said the caste certificates submitted by Amit Jogi and his wife Richa Jogi were fake and had already been revoked by the district and state-level inquiry committees. “The Election Commission cancelled their nominations on the same basis,” Tiwari said. “Amit Jogi was part of the BJP’s B team. In a democracy, if a person holds a fake caste certificate, how can he contest election from a tribal reserved seat?”
Tiwari also said the party is confident of winning the elections. “The Marwahi assembly constituency has been a traditional seat of the Congress Party. We will win this byelection by contesting on the plank of development work being carried out by the government here,” he said. “Our government made Marwahi a district and now development work worth over Rs 300 crore is being carried out here.”
Both mainstream parties have fielded doctors from the constituency. Congress candidate Dr Krishnan Kumar Dhruv was a government doctor in the area before he resigned to contest the polls. The BJP has fielded surgeon Dr Gambhir Singh, who operates a private hospital.
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