Chhattisgarh: Bhupesh Baghel among 3 sitting MLAs of Cong and 2 ex-ministers lose against BJP

Raipur, June 4 (PTI) Three sitting MLAs, including ex-chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, and two former heavyweight state ministers fielded by Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh were defeated by BJP candidates on Tuesday on the day results were declared.

Congress, which suffered a severe drubbing in the 2023 assembly polls, fielded the three MLAs from Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur, and Bastar (ST) Lok Sabha seats, and the two former ministers in Mahasamund and Janjgir-Champa (SC) but they failed to win.

The BJP won 10 out of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh while Congress secured Korba.

Bhupesh Baghel was defeated by BJP's sitting MP Santosh Pandey in the Rajnandgaon constituency by a margin of 44,411 votes.

In a major upset, Congress' influential tribal leader and former state minister Kawasi Lakhma, an incumbent MLA, lost to BJP's Mahesh Kashyap by 55,245 votes in Bastar LS constituency.

In 2019, Bastar was among the two seats won by the Congress.

In Bilaspur, Congress candidate Devendra Yadav, an incumbent MLA, fell aside against BJP's Tokhan Sahu, a former MLA, by a margin of 1,64,558 votes.

BJP's Rupkumari Chaudhary, a former MLA, won Mahasamund LS seat by a margin of 1,45,456 votes against Congress Tamradhwaj Sahu, a former state minister.

In the lone SC-reserved Janjgir-Champa seat, BJP woman leader Kamlesh Jangde won by a margin of 60,000 votes against Congress candidate and former state minister Shivkumar Dahariya.

BJP had also fielded an incumbent MLA and state minister Brijmohan Agrawal in the high-profile Raipur Lok Sabha constituency. He defeated Congress's Vikas Upadhyay, a former MLA, by a record margin of 5,68,359 votes. PTI TKP NSK