Inside Chhindwara assembly seat, Kamal Nath’s prized trophy that the BJP eyes

The competition is brewing in Chhindwara as it gears for the battle between Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party in the upcoming state legislative assembly elections. Chhindwara is considered one of the most important legislative assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. The seat is especially significant for the Leader of Opposition and Congress chief ministerial candidate Kamal Nath, who has dominated the region for more than 40 years now.  The assembly is one of the seven segments of the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat which Nath has won a record nine times.

Demography of Chhindwara Vidhan Sabha constituency

The assembly seat has a total voter base of 2,81,676 people. Chhindwara is among the few Assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh where women voters outnumber men. The seat has 1,40,674 male voters as against 1,41,002 women voters. The literacy rate is 81.46%. 

Burning issues in Chhindwara

Developmental issues hold a central place in the constituency’s politics. On one hand, the Congress claims that the development projects brought to Chhindwara during Kamal Nath's 15-month tenure as Chief Minister have been stalled and the budget has been cut by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. On the other hand, the BJP argues that Kamal Nath has played politics by deceiving the people of Chhindwara. They claim that the real development is the result of the BJP's governance in Madhya Pradesh.

Kamal Nath as Chief Ministerial candidate

Another major issue is the face of the Chief Minister. Congress is seeking votes in the name of making Kamal Nath the Chief Minister once again. It is clear that if Kamal Nath becomes the Chief Minister, the pace of development in Chhindwara will run again.

“Chhindwara model of development”

The 2018 elections were fought on the Chhindwara development model. Kamal Nath, as the President of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, campaigned across the state, projecting Chhindwara as a model of development. BJP's district president, Vivek Banti Sahu, argues that whatever development happened in Chhindwara district from 2003 onwards is the result of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. He accused Kamal Nath of deceiving the people, whether it was in the form of farmer loan waivers or other initiatives when he was Chief Minister. According to Vivek Banti Sahu, even in 2019, despite Kamal Nath contesting the by-election for Chief Minister, nearly 88,000 people voted against him, indicating the people's sentiments about Kamal Nath's leadership.

Political neglect

Nath voiced the concern that the BJP government is neglecting the Chhindwara population and is discriminating against them for electing Congress representatives. Supporters of the Congress also blame CM Chouhan for sabotaging key projects like the medical college launched by Nath during his brief 15-month stint starting in 2018. As a response, in a meeting held in Bhopal last year, the cabinet granted a revised administrative approval for the Chhindwara Institute of Medical Sciences. The approved amount for the project, originally set at 665 crore rupees, was revised to 768.22 crore rupees. It's worth noting that the previous Kamal Nath government had approved 2,200 crore rupees for the same project, which the current government now revised to 768 crore rupees.

Creation of Pandhurna district

Last week saw the creation of yet another new district in Madhya Pradesh with the carving out of Pandhurna from the Chhindwara district, making it the 55th district of the state. The attempt is being seen as the BJP’s way of gaining people’s sympathy in Kamal Nath’s fortress and to translate into electoral advantage. It is noteworthy that the government has created three new districts within a span of 40 days separating Mauganj from Rewa, Pandhurna from Chhindwara and Maihar from Satna. The Collectors and SPs have already been appointed in all these districts.

Key concerns

As reported by The Sunday Guardian, the poor state of roads, the dearth of jobs, lack of teachers at Chhindwara University are some of the key concerns of voters in the seat. Security for women and the removal of liquor shops from near women's colleges have also been highlighted by some women voters.

Political history 

In the 2008 elections, Congress' Deepak Saxena defeated BJP's Chaudhary Chandrabhan Singh by 3,444 votes. In the 2013 elections, once again, Chaudhary Chandrabhan Singh from the BJP and Deepak Saxena from the Congress were in direct competition. In this election, BJP's Chaudhary Chandrabhan Singh decisively defeated Congress' Deepak Saxena by 24,778 votes. In 2018, once again, the same faces from the BJP and Congress were in the fray, but this time, Deepak Saxena from the Congress turned the tables and defeated BJP's Chaudhary Chandrabhan Singh by 14,547 votes.

Nath’s dominance in the region 

Kamal Nath has been a Member of Parliament from Chhindwara nine times. And, has been actively involved in Chhindwara's politics for the past 43 years. His political influence in Chhindwara is significant. In 2018, after becoming the Chief Minister, he contested the Vidhan Sabha election from Chhindwara in 2019. Although, Kamal Nath primarily focused on Lok Sabha elections in Chhindwara, after becoming the head of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee in 2018, he shifted his focus to the legislative assembly. In the 2019 by-election, people voted for Kamal Nath. In that election, he received 114,459 votes, while the BJP's youth leader Vivek Banti Sahu settled for 88,622 votes. The former won the elections with a margin of 25,837 votes. In 2023, Nath is once again being promoted by Congress as the Chief Ministerial candidate.

Veteran vs novice

Opposite the Congress veteran, the BJP has once again nominated Vivek Banti Sahu to fight the assembly elections from the seat. Currently, Banti Sahu is the BJP's district president in Chhindwara. He has been given the ticket in place of Chaudhary Chandrabhan Singh. It is worth noting that Chandrabhan Singh, who served as a BJP MLA, won from Chhindwara in 1990, 2003, and 2008. On the other hand, Vivek Banti Sahuhas first received a BJP ticket in 2019 but was defeated by Kamal Nath. The party has again reposed faith in Banti, disappointing Singh’s supporters.

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