Balaghat Lok Sabha Election 2024: 7 Facts You Need to Know About the BJP Bastion

Balaghat Lok Sabha constituency, located in Madhya Pradesh, is a General category parliamentary seat encompassing the entire Balaghat district and part of the Seoni district. Presently, it consists of eight Legislative Assembly segments, including Baihar (ST), Lanji, Paraswada, Balaghat, Waraseoni, Katangi in Balaghat district and Barghat (ST) and Seoni in Seoni district. Voting for Lok Sabha polls in Balaghat will take place in the first phase on April 19. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

Key Facts About the Balaghat Seat

Even as Balaghat has been a BJP-dominated constituency since 1998, no BJP MP has served on this seat twice. Here are some interesting facts about this seat, witnessing a straight contest between the Congress and BJP:

1. Balaghat has a total of 1,756,715 voters with a literacy rate of 66.25%. The rural population in Balaghat is 1,489,694 (84.8%) and urban population is 267,021 (15.2%).
2. The constituency has a 92.88% Hindu population, 3.32% Buddhists, 0.3% Jains and 3.5% Muslims.
3. In this largely rural seat, caste- based voting is a leading factor and more relevant than religious affiliations. While the ST and the SC vote is expected to split between the BJP and Congress over local issues, the Powars, a dominant OBC group in Balaghat, often termed the kingmakers in the seat, are expected to turnout in large numbers in favour of the BJP.
4. Balaghat is known for a healthy sex ratio with 1021 women for every 1000 men. In the Assembly elections in 2023, more women turned up to vote than men.
5. Balaghat has been a BJP bastion since 1998 but no MP has served twice. Bharti Pardhi, a relatively fresh face, has been introduced as the BJP candidate from this seat in 2024, replacing the incumbent Dhal Singh Bisen. The BJP follows a pattern of replacing the sitting MP with a new face after every term in Balaghat.
6. Union government had in 2022 approved 28 roads in Balaghat adding 322 km of road length in the district. In 2018, four laning of Balaghat to Gondia Section of NH-543 was announced. In October, PM Modi had inaugurated it.
7. Since 2014, there have been many railway projects undertaken by the Indian railways in Balaghat. These include gauge conversion on the Balaghat-Samnapur section, Gondia-Jabalpur route etc. The stations at Balaghat and Waraseoni have also seen upgradations. Several passenger trains have been extended to Katangi and Waraseoni stations thus helping passengers.

2019 Election Results and 2024 Candidates

Dr Dhal Singh Bisen of the BJP had won the Lok Sabha election 2019 with a total of 696,102 votes, defeating Madhu Bhagat of the Congress. He is preceded by Bodhsingh Bhagat (2014) and KD Deshmukh (2009) of the BJP.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has fielded Bharti Pardhi while the Congress has fielded Samrat Saraswat, both fresh faces.

Who Stands Where?

Here’s a look at the current political situation in Balaghat and how the major parties in the fray are placed.

Bharatiya Janata Party

The BJP scored 4 out of 8 seats in Balaghat’s assembly segments in 2023. The Congress bagged the other four including the Balaghat assembly seat.

Balaghat has been a BJP bastion since 1998 but no MP has served twice. Bharti Pardhi, a relatively fresh face, has been introduced as the BJP candidate from this seat in 2024, replacing the incumbent Dhal Singh Bisen. The BJP follows a pattern of replacing the sitting MP with a new face after every term in Balaghat. Pardhi is not particularly well-known in the constituency, but she has made significant headway as the BJP’s campaign is far ahead of the Congress.

The BJP faces growing concerns that anti-incumbency affect its fortunes in this Lok Sabha seat. The stature of MPs has never risen to a highly impactful career. Dhal Singh Bisen, the sitting MP, facing similar anti-incumbency which is why his faction has not been given a second run.

The public often raises that no substantial development has taken place in the region which remains very poorly connected with the rest of the state in terms of highways, rail and air connectivity.

The Modi Factor

While elections here are not traditionally fought on any national issues in particular, the Ram Mandir construction has made an impact on the psyche of religious Hindus in this largely Hindu seat.

Further, even as the pace of infrastructure development has disappointed the public, the face of the prime minister is very popular, especially in rural areas, owing to various welfare schemes like Awas Yojana and the The Kisan Samman Nidhi.

Congress

The Congress has also fielded a fresh face in the seat. Samrat Saraswat, the Congress’ candidate from Balaghat, is from the general category. He is the son of former MLA Ashok Saraswat. Samrat had previously expressed his desire for an MLA ticket in the assembly election. Despite making similar attempts in previous elections and presenting his case to the party’s top leaders, he had consistently faced disappointment.

Samrat’s dissatisfaction with the party has been evident on multiple occasions, especially when his ticket nominations were revoked.

This time too former Congress MLA Hina Kavre had emerged as a strong contender for the LS ticket, causing internal competition. While it was anticipated that Congress may field a female candidate, ultimately Congress awarded the ticket to Samrat.

Banking on Anti-incumbency: The Congress managed to win in four seats out of eight in this Lok Sabha constituency, which is largely owed to anti-incumbency against the BJP leadership in the state.

As similar sentiments threaten the BJP’s standing here, the Congress is expecting to cash in on the resentment which may trigger a split in Adivasi and Dalit votes.

Key Factors and Election Issues

Here’s a look at the key issues on the Balaghat seat in Lok Sabha Elections 2024:

Farmers’ issues

With an 80% rural population, people in Balaghat are heavily dependent on agriculture. However, they have been unhappy with the Government’s failure to buy the produce at MSP. Moreover, the major crop in Balaghat is paddy, which is dependent on extensive irrigation. Water supply along with electricity are another major issue, which impacts farmer’s yields every year. Farmer’s also face the issue of crop failure due to irrigation issues and crop destruction from wildlife. There are constant pleas for loan waivers as well as farmers are scared for their lands falling to the bank in case of failure to pay back due to the issues mentioned above.

Naxalism

The Naxal issue is prevalent in Balaghat, although the government has made efforts to lower its impact. According to onground reports, the Naxal ideology in the region does not hold any sway on the people and the area is used as hiding grounds by Naxalites. However, encounters between the police and Naxalites are common. The Hawk force Jawans, the unit that deals with Naxals, have not let the Naxal incidents increase. Moreover, despite such a terrible problem of Naxalites in the neighboring state (Chhattisgarh), the Naxals could not spread their wings in the state. In 2003, three major actions were taken by the Hawk Force, under the anti-Naxal campaigns being run by Madhya Pradesh Police, neutralizing 4 hardcore Naxalites including 2 female Naxalites.

Electricity

Electricity power supply, and load shedding are one of the most pressing concerns in Balaghat. Constant power cuts have been prevalent in the area for years. In summers, the temperature hovers around 35℃ on average, and constant cuts leave the people with no respite. The Chief Minister in 2022 had assured the people to fix the issue by bringing in more coal to address the issue, however, nothing much has happened yet. Irrigation is most impacted as without electricity pumps cannot function, leaving the small farmers at risk of crop failure. Another astonishing issue is the electricity bill that people in the village Khara Polbatur receive every month. All 150 households of the area depend on solar energy, but still receive an identical electricity bill every month, irrespective of load shedding and constant power cuts, this in turn has also miffed people as they are forced to pay bills for power supply that they neither get nor use.

Drinking Water

The region has a severe drinking water issue. The underground water is contaminated with high levels of fluoride which has already left much of the population with severe health conditions. Moreover, there are no government installed filtering mechanisms to provide clean, and toxin free water, nor is there a mechanism for regular water supply. People depend on private pumps and motors to fulfill their water needs.

Lack of civic infrastructure

There is a lack of basic civic infrastructure such as Schools, colleges, specialized hospitals in Balaghat. Even those present are understaffed. There is a lack of doctors, nurses and administrative staff at the hospital and a lack of teachers and professors at schools and colleges. The region lacks specialised doctors and people have to either travel to Indore, or Jabalpur to get treated for serious medical conditions, such as illnesses due to fluoride toxicity.

Emigration and Employment

A lack of development projects, skill development institutes means very less employment opportunities in the ground. According to government released data, Total registrations in MP Rojgar Yojana in 2022 was 4381 against 2 vacancies. The roof tile factories at the outskirts of Balaghat have also ceased to operate for over more than 5 years. In addition, despite the presence of manganese, and copper ore, the government has failed to set up industries for their extraction. This in turn, has led to mass emigration from Balaghat, especially the tribal youth who have left the region for capital Indore and to states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in search of better employment opportunities. More than half of households in the region have been affected by migration.

Poor Connectivity

Balaghat is poorly connected with the rest of Madhya Pradesh, often touted to be “cut off” from the state. Highway connectivity is poor and there is an increasing demand for widening roads. While several goods trains have been introduced here, there is also a severe lack of passenger trains leading to Balaghat. In the city of Balaghat, there is a problem of traffic jams, yet little work has been done towards mitigating them, except the construction of overways which has been undertaken recently.