The Congress leaders and workers are going full steam this time round to prove it’s not all over for the party in the run-up to the Antagarh Assembly by-poll in Kanker district.
After two consecutive defeats—one during the Assembly poll and another during the lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh, the State-level Congress leadership is now all out to prove its fighting back to gain ground.
The Tribal reserved Antagarh seat under North Bastar division has been vacant ever since former State Minister Vikram Usendi who was the sitting BJP MlA, resigned after winning the lok Sabha poll from Kanker seat.
While the BJP leaders feel there is no ‘vaccum’ created by Usendi’s exit as the saffron wave across still lingers on across the nation, the Congress leaders have been mobilizing workers to prove its otherwise. However, only the poll results would reveal the popularity of the candidates.
With the announcement of the by-poll scheduled on September 13, the Congress leaders are taking no chances and are holding worker meetings well in advance.
On the other hand, the BJP leaders exuded confidence while stating that there is no way the Opposition would be able to wrest away the seat from them.
The fact remains that the Antagrah (ST) seat came into existence in 2008 after delimitation, Antagrah (ST) seat and won twice consecutively by Vikram Usendi who is already very popular in the insurgency hit region.
Just for record, out of the 12 Assembly seats in insurgency-hit Bastar region, Congress had won eight—Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Dantewada, Chitrakot, Bastar and Konta while four seats - Antagarh, Jagdalpur, Narayanpur and Bijapur - went to the BJP during the last Assembly poll.
However, in the run-up to the by-poll in 2014—it’s a fierce battle ahead between the two national parties.
Both the national parties have not yet declared their candidates for the by-poll so far. The last date of filing nomination has been scheduled to August 27. Subsequently, the scrutiny will be done on August 28 and candidates can withdraw their names by August 30. The result will be declared on September 16.