The Congress party has denied tickets to several members of erstwhile royal families to contest the Assembly election which will be held in Chhattisgarh next month. Members of royal families were dominating the poll scene in the State from 1952 to 2003.
The Congress party also used their influences to win the election in the State. Even members of such families were contesting the election for several generations. There was a time when the members of royal families use to capture more than 15 seats. Many of them were members of State Assembly and Parliament. The Congress has distanced itself from such families is evident from the fact that, at least more than half a dozen people belonged to such families this time aspired for the party tickets.
The constituencies from where they were seeking tickets include Dongargaon, Khair-agarh, Kawardha, Basna, Ambikapur and Sakti. Besides they were also seeking tickets from Raigarh and few more areas. But the Congress only granted tickets to two sitting legislators TS Singh Deo from Ambikapur and Devendra Bahadur Singh from Basna, while it denied tickets to others. The members of royal families who were denied tickets are Devabrat Singh from Khair-agarh, Yogiraj Singh form Kaw-ardha, Bhavani Bahdur Singh from Dongargaon, and Surendra Bahdur Singh from Sakti. There is a growing discontentment among their supporters.