leader Vijay Baghel won from Durg parliamentary constituency defeating Pratima Chandrakar of the Congress by a record margin of 3,91,978 votes creating history of winning with highest difference of votes in Chhattisgarh. According to Election Commission, Pratima polled 4,57,396 votes while Baghel, a former Parliamentary Secretary, polled 8,49,374 votes there by securing 61 per cent of votes while Pratima managed to secure only 32.86 per cent votes.
BJP candidate Vijay Baghel took the lead of 21,121 votes in the very first round itself and consistently maintained his lead till the last round making his victory unchallenged from Durg Lok Sabha seat. In the second round the lead went to 47,157 votes while in the third round it raised to 69,704 votes, in the fourth round the lead reached to 86,087 votes and in the 5th round Baghel securing 45,165 votes raised the lead to 10,9582. In the 6th round BJP candidate was leading by 1,34,416 votes. By the 9th round, the margin crossed over 2 lakh and after 14th round the lead was 3,22,203 votes and when the vote counting ended in the 22nd and final round the lead was a record 3,90,652 votes.
Vijay Baghel happens to be the nephew of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel but at the same time the two are politically in two different zones. Congress candidate Pratima Chandrakar however is very close to Bhupesh Baghel as it was Pratima’s father Late Vasudev Chandrakar who politically mentored Bhupesh Baghel. In such a situation, the BJP’s record victory in this prestigious and politically significant seat has become a cause of disappointment in the Congress camp. In the relationship, the uncle and nephew, CM and BJP candidates are each other’s political opponents.
They were also pitted against each other in the assembly elections in which Vijay Baghel had once defeated Bhupesh but in the subsequent election Bhupesh defeated Vijay. In the last assembly election Vijay Baghel was denied ticket by the party. Meanwhile the BJP workers, who were quite disheartened with the loss in the State Assembly election are recharged now and celebrating the big victory. They were seen bursting crackers and distributing sweets to celebrate the victory of Vijay Baghel in Durg as well as the Modi government at the centre. Vijay Baghel, MP of Durg who won the election with landmark victory expressed his gratitude towards woman voters for showing their faith on BJP.
