Raipur South By-Election : BJP and Congress Mull Over Candidates Amid Speculation

Raipur

The Chhattisgarh BJP is reportedly mulling over the names of four candidates for the Raipur South Assembly by-election and has sent them to the high command in Delhi. The seat was vacated after BJP’s senior leader and eight-time MLA Brijmohan Agrawal was elected as a Member of Parliament after contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Raipur. Sources said that the names that emerged from the party’s internal survey are Sanjay Srivastava, Subhash Tiwari, Kedar Gupta, and Sunil Soni. Among these, Brijmohan’s preferred candidate might get the nod, sources added.

On the other hand, on the Congress side, the names being discussed include Mayor Aijaz Dhebar, former Mayor Pramod Dubey, Congress General Secretary Kanhaiya Agarwal, Sunny Agarwal, Satnam Panag, and Sumit Das.

Officially, no one has submitted a written application yet. In the last election, Congress fielded Mahant Ramsundar Das, the head of Dudhdhari Math, from the South.

According to organizational sources, Brijmohan Agrawal’s preferred candidate is Sunil Soni. Recently, during a Tiranga Yatra, Brijmohan Agrawal kept Sunil Soni with him in his vehicle. People are connecting this to the speculation of Sunil Soni’s candidacy.



Sources claimed that Brijmohan Agrawal won the assembly elections with a significant lead. Therefore, the party might give a chance to Brijmohan Agrawal’s preferred candidate in the by-election. The BJP might ask Brijmohan whom they should nominate from the South.



The BJP has appointed organizational leaders Shivratan Sharma and Shyam Bihari Jaiswal as in-charges for the by-election. Meanwhile, Congress has not made any such appointments yet.



Municipal elections might be held in Chhattisgarh around December. It is believed that the Raipur South Assembly by-election could also take place during this time, though there has been no official announcement. The by-election announcement could be made by the end of August. There is also speculation that the by-election in Raipur will coincide with the upcoming assembly elections in neighboring states like Maharashtra and Jharkhand.



Congress has almost finalized its strategy for this year’s end election. The party is preparing to appoint in-charges for the wards, who will provide a complete report to the PCC. Additionally, Congress is actively working to mobilize booth-level workers.