Durg: Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) president Amit Jogi on Monday filed his nomination papers from Patan Assembly seat from where Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is contesting.
Jogi said his fight is against corruption and not Baghel.
Polls to the 90-member Assembly will be held in Chhattisgarh in two phases on November 7 and 17, while results will be declared on December 3.
“I have filed my nomination from Patan segment. My fight is not against Bhupesh Baghel. It is against corruption. For the first time in the history of Chhattisgarh, an election is going to take place in Patan. Otherwise, so far it was a setting between uncle and nephew,” he said in reference to the CM and his nephew and BJP candidate Vijay Baghel.
Jogi claimed he is the face of the people of Patan, who are facing problems caused by corruption, dynasty politics, unfulfilled promises and liquor consumption.
“I am not contesting from Patan for ‘badla’ (revenge) but for ‘badlaav’ (change),” he said. Patan is among the 70 seats that will go to polls on November 17 in the second phase.
Earlier in the day, CM Baghel, who has won from Patan in 1993, 1998, 2003, 2013 and 2018, filed his nomination papers. He had lost the 2008 polls to his nephew Vijay Baghel, currently Lok Sabha MP from Durg. Both are Kurmis, an influential part of the Other Backward Classes.
The JCC (J) had contested the 2018 Assembly elections in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party and the two parties had won a total of seven seats. The Ajit Jogi-founded party, which had won five seats in 2018 with a vote share of 7.6 per cent, is contesting the upcoming polls alone.
The JCC(J) has been on the decline since the death of Ajit Jogi in 2020. It lost two of the five seats to bypolls after the death of MLAs Ajit Jogi and Devvrat Singh in Marwahi and Khairagarh, respectively.
Two other MLAs, Dharmjeet Singh and Pramod Sharma, were expelled from the party, leaving the JJC(J) with just Kota MLA Renu Jogi, the wife of late Ajit Jogi.
(Published 30 October 2023, 15:52 IST)