Congress hopes to gain Panwar Tribal Votes

By Varsha Sharma

Indore: Panwar tribals will decide, BJP with caste arithmetic, Congress has hope from tribals,
Balaghat Lok Sabha election has reached an interesting stage.
On one side there is BJP candidate and councilor Bharti Pardhi, while on the other side there is Congress candidate and District Panchayat President Samrat Saraswar. As a vote cutter, Kankar Munjare is once again contesting from BSP seat. Caste arithmetic among the three candidates is pushing the BJP candidate ahead, because Bharti belongs to the Panwar caste and can directly benefit from 20 to 22 percent votes. Coming from the Kshatriya caste, Samrat has fewer voters in his parliamentary constituency, but he is hopeful that 24 percent tribal votes are with the Congress. Munjare is relying on Lodhi votes. Actually, in the last election, Dhal Singh Bisen had won the election from BJP, but by cutting his ticket the party has given a chance to a new face. Local people are saying that things were not going well between Dhal Singh and former MP Gaurishankar Bisen. By making Bharti Pardhi the candidate, all the BJP members including Gaurishankar, his wife Rekha have been appeased. There is no ticket from Gaurishankar’s family, so Dhal Singh has also joined in. BJP members are looking at this equation as a strength.
Friendship also has power in BJP During the urban body elections, when Balaghat Nagar Palika President was to be elected, Bharti Pardhi left the seat for Bharti Thakur. While she had staked her claim prominently. It is said that since then it was being said that Bharti Pardhi would be the Lok Sabha candidate. Now when the MP election is coming, Bharti Thakur has joined Bharti Pardhi to maintain that friendship. Gaurishankar Bisen and his wife Rekha are also included. BJP is also compelled to woo Gaurishankar because he is said to be the leader of the Panwars. Equality in the assembly gave strength to Congress If we look at the results of the upcoming assembly in Balaghat, in 2018, BJP won 3 seats, Congress 4 and an independent won one seat. In the Lok Sabha elections held immediately after this, in 2019, BJP won 7 assembly seats in terms of votes, while Congress remained at one. Recently, in the 2023 assembly elections, BJP has 4 seats and Congress has the same number of seats. Lanji, Seoni, Barghat and Katangi are in the account of BJP. Congress has won Baihar, Paraswada, Balaghat and Varasewani seats. With this equal number of seats, Congress has hopes.