It could be a coincidence that somebody spoke against BJP and didn’t get to cast their vote. If only 10-20 names had been missing, it could have been seen as an oversight. But 35,000? It can’t merely be a coincidence. It is enough to make a losing candidate win.
Raipur: After the capital city of Raipur, the Bilaspur constituency is the most important seat in the state. Usually, there are two lakh voters registered here. To estimate the ongoing the sentiment with regards to the election, we went to many bylanes and areas to understand people’s views. Eight of 10 people said that the person who has been running the state for the last 15 years on behalf of the ruling party needs to go because they have ruined the city. Whatever happens, we will not vote for him. Many are convinced that he is going to lose. Then suddenly, only the day of the election, 35,000 people in the constituency find out that their names have been removed from the voter list. Which means that 35,000 votes that could have gone to the oppositions, almost 17.5 per cent people, were rendered useless in one stroke.
The second phase of the polls where 72 seats in 19 districts were being contested ended on Nov 20. A total of 1079 candidates including 119 women were included in this phase. According to the Election Commission, 71.93 per cent of the people voted in the second phase. In the first phase on Nov 12, the voting percentage of 18 seats in the Naxal affected areas was 76.42 per cent. The total combined voting percentage of the state was 74.17. On Tuesday, about 1.54 crore people (77.53 lakh male voters, 76.46 lakh female voters and 877 transgender voters) exercised their voting rights.
Bilaspur: The Kingmaker
Taking stock of the constituencies that are being contested, Bilaspur is Chattisgarh’s biggest division with 24 seats in its kitty. Out of which five are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and four for Scheduled Castes. Whoever takes an edge in this division, is said to form the government.
Bilaspur is also the district headquarter and the High Court of Chhattisgarh is also located here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BSP supremo Mayawati, Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh and Gopal Rai have used all their power in this division to attract voters.
Bilaspur is a crucial seat for BJP as Amar Agarwal from the party has been the MLA of this region for the last 15 years. Talking about ground realities, his defeat was considered certain, and many placed bets that Congress candidate Shailesh Pandey will be victorious.
Over the years, due to the poor sewage work, Bilaspur was overtaken by dust and dirt. People were either dying by falling in pits or by contracting diseases. The anger reached disproportionate heights and the MLA got wind of the disappointment. He must have wanted to end this disgrace. A video of an envelope containing an electoral slip with his photo and a Rs.500 note was seen. (This could also be a prank.)
The city of Bilaspur has become nothing but dug roads. To exacerbate the disappointment of the residents, the repair of roads began a month before the elections. The corrupt people try to show how honest they are by laying a thin coat of asphalt on the road and think that people will forget their past suffering.
The people of Bilaspur have exposed the ugly designs of these corrupt ministers. The repair work stopped a day before the elections. There were reports of cash, sarees, alcohol being handed out in exchange for votes. The people are not as stupid as the minister would like to believe. Social workers and human rights defenders were labelled ‘Urban Naxals’, divisions between temples and mosques were being played up, ugly comments about Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were made and many advertisements were on TV channels. Every trick that could garner votes was tried. The tricks didn’t pay off and the day of election Nov 20 had come.
This time everyone was convinced that the sitting MLA will lose. Meanwhile, people in the polling booths of Bilaspur started shouting. Hundreds of people were going to the polling booth in every ward, but they were returning without casting a vote. The names of these people were missing from the voter’s list. There were many people who had voted the last time.
Prashant Thakur, a resident of Shanti Nagar in Bilaspur, said that the name of his entire family was not in the list, but everyone had voted in the last election. Arun Bhange, a resident of Masanganj, said that there are nine members in his house, out of which seven people couldn’t cast their votes as their names were missing from the voter’s list.
Most of the missing names would’ve voted against BJP
Around 35,000 voters could not cast their votes because their names were missing from the voter’s list.
There were some similarities in the way the above two voters were not allowed to vote.
One had asked people to not vote for on his social media and the other had a Congress flag hoisted outside his workplace.
It could be a coincidence that somebody spoke against BJP and didn’t get to cast their vote.
If only 10-20 names had been missing, it could have been seen as an oversight. But 35,000? It can’t merely be a coincidence. It is enough to make a losing candidate win.
Is this a political understanding? There should be a serious investigation in this case.