RAIPUR: With the ruling Congress, opposition BJP and regional Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) announcing their candidates for the April 12 by-poll to the Khairagarh Assembly seat, the electoral battle apparently is set to witness a triangular fight.
The Congress has fielded the OBC woman Yoshoda Verma, the party’s Khairagarh block committee chief. The BJP candidate Komal Jangle, the national working committee member of the party’s OBC Morcha had earlier won the seat twice but lost the 2018 Assembly election by a margin of 870 votes.
Khairagarh seat in Rajnandgaon district, fell vacant following the demise of the sitting JCC (J) MLA Devvrat Singh, scion of the erstwhile royal family of Khairagarh, in November last year. The regional political outfit JCC (J) was floated by late ex-CM Ajit Jogi in 2016.
The JCC (J) has announced Narendra Soni as the party candidate and expressed confidence in winning the upcoming poll while criticising both the Congress and the BJP for “disregarding” the erstwhile royal family of Khairagarh.
“In Khairagarh it seems an emerging triangular fight, though the ruling party which is banking on performance of Bhupesh government is hoping to get an edge. Its too early to speculate as the region also has a strong footprint of the BJP. The JCC (J) has a chance to show it carries an influencing presence in the state politics”, said Ashok Tomar, political commentator.