Narmadapuram Lok Sabha Poll 2024: Key Issues in The Constituency Earlier Known as Hoshangabad

Narmadapuram, erstwhile Hoshangabad, Lok Sabha constituency is one of 29 Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh. It consists of the entire Narmadapuram district and parts of Narsinghpur and Raisen districts. It consists of eight assembly segments, all of which are represented by BJP MLAs. The assembly segments are: Narsinghpur, Tendukheda, Gadarwara, Seoni-Malwa, Narmadapuram, Sohagpur, Pipariya and Udaipura. Voting for Lok Sabha polls in Narmadapuram will take place on April 26 in the second phase while the counting of votes will take place on June 4.

2019 Result and 2024 Candidates

Rao Uday Pratap Singh of the BJP had won the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Hoshangabad seat. However, the seat is currently vacant as Singh contested the 2023 Assembly election is presently serving as the Minister for Transport and School Education departments.

For the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has fielded Darshan Singh Chaudhary from the Narmadapuram seat while the Congress has fielded Sanjay Sharma.

Key Issues

From illegal sand mining to the cleaning of River Narmada, these are the key issues on the Narmadapuram seat this election.

Sand Mining

The infamous illegal sand mining in Naramadapuram, on the banks of the river Narmada, continues unabated. For reasons best known to it, the Congress does not seem very inclined to make the issue of illegal sand mining its biggest poll plank in Naramadapuram. Perhaps it could have something to do with allegations of several leaders from across party lines, including the Congress, being directly or indirectly involved in illegal sand mining.

Narmada Remains Unclean

Despite tall claims of some major work being undertaken to clean the Narmada, the ground reality appears to be entirely different. Drains continue to pollute the revered river. Approximately 2.2 million people in Madhya Pradesh release sewage into the Narmada without proper treatment, posing significant health risks to downstream users. Despite being promised years ago, the sewage treatment plant that was supposed to be built here is still under construction, with about Rs 2 crore having been spent on it already.

Farmers’ Concerns

Being an agriculture-intensive area, the farmers of Hoshangabad have been demanding a hike in the procurement rate of their crops, like wheat and sugarcane. Farmers, who currently receive about Rs 2,400 as MSP for wheat, want that amount to go up to at least Rs 2,700. That being said, the farmers also appear to recognise the fact that their earning has improved in the Modi years, and therefore, this may not be a defining feature which impacts their voting preferences. However, it is indeed among the key issues in Hoshangabad, generally speaking.

Hindutva

The BJP’s Hindutva push is indeed paying electoral dividends, as many Hindu voters are appreciating the steps taken by the Modi government to revive a sense of pride among the community about their culture and spiritual heritage. With the Ram Mandir having been built and consecrated by the Prime Minister himself, there is a distinct factor playing to the BJP’s advantage this election season.

Development

1. In February, PM Modi launched projects worth Rs 17,000 crore in Madhya Pradesh. These projects cater to a variety of key sectors, including irrigation, power, road, rail, water supply, coal, and industry, including the setting up of a power substation in Narmadapuram.
2. Earlier, in September 2023, PM Modi laid the foundation stone of a Power and Renewable Energy Manufacturing Zone in Narmadapuram district.
3. The four-lane Bhopal-Nagpur-Betul national highway 46, which passes to Hoshangabad constituency has also improved connectivity in the region.
4. Besides, the setting up of industrial corridors in Kiratpur and Mohasa are also being seen as positive developments, although industries are yet to come to the corridors.
5. The construction of small dams on the Narmada, which will help the irrigation scenario in the region are also being looked forward to. Even if work is yet to be completed, voters are seeing a government which is finally doing developmental work in their region.
6. In January 2023, Madhya Pradesh reported a substantial investment of Rs 40,000 crore in road construction, with projects worth Rs 25,000 crore nearing completion. Until September last year, road projects valued at Rs 6,800 crore had been inaugurated.
7. Add to that, another big project the people are eagerly awaiting is the eight-lane Narmada Expressway. Meanwhile, the Delhi-Mumbai expressway will pass through the state of Madhya Pradesh, covering several districts in the western region of the state.
8. At least 40 lakh homes are said to have been built in Madhya Pradesh under the PM Awas Yojana.

Who Stands Where

BJP

The BJP looks comfortably ahead in Hoshangabad. Since 2014, the constituency has turned into a stronghold for the saffron party. Presently, all the eight assembly segments here are under the BJP’s control, providing the BJP with a vast edge over its primary opponent, the Congress.  

The BJP has fielded a new candidate – farmer leader Darshan Singh Chaudhary. The party is especially seeing voters flock towards it owing to issues such as the abrogation of Article 370, construction of Ram Mandir and the broader view that the BJP has been addressing key Hindu demands. Ground inputs suggest that the BJP has been able to largely consolidate the Hindu vote in its favour in Hoshangabad.

PM Modi is the single biggest factor working in favour of the BJP. Meanwhile, Darshan Chaudhary is also the Kisan Morcha president. The decision to field him appears to have been taken keeping in mind his influence among farmers.

Congress

Congress’s Sanjay Sharma is a strong contender. However, he does not have much legroom in a constituency where a significant chunk of the voters prefers the BJP’s lotus over the Congress’s hand. Sanjay Sharma represented Tendukheda in the Assembly twice on a BJP ticket. In 2019, he switched sides and joined the Congress.

In the assembly elections of 2023, Sanjay Sharma was defeated by BJP’s Vishwanath Singh Patel by about 15,000 votes from Tendukheda. The fact that the Congress candidate could not pull off an assembly segment win recently does not auger well for him, now that the stakes are much higher, and he is fighting against the BJP for a Lok Sabha victory.

Voter Demographics

The Narmadapuram constituency has a total of 16,93,470 voters of which 281,116 are SC voters while 211,684 are ST voters as per the 2019 election data. The constituency has 3.9% Muslim voters.

Urban voters account for 26.5% of the total voters on the seat while there are 73.5% rural voters.

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