Ajit Jogi Party JCC-J announces Candidates: Former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Ajit Jogi’s party Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) has made a roar in the election campaign of the state. JCC (J) on Friday announced its candidates for 16 seats for the Chhattisgarh assembly elections. Voting will be held in the first phase on November 7 next month on the seats for which JCC (J) has released the names of candidates. Khairagarh assembly seat is also included in the list of JCC (J). JCC (J) had won this seat in the 2018 assembly elections, but later it had to face defeat from Congress in the by-election.
JCC (J) has fielded Lucky Kunwar Netam from Khairagarh seat. In 2018, this seat was won by Devvrat Singh of JCC (J). Singh, a three-time Congress MLA, was close to Ajit Jogi. When Jogi formed the new party, Devvrat Singh left the Congress and contested the 2018 elections on a JCC (J) ticket from Khairagarh. He died of a heart attack in November 2021.
Congress had won this seat in the by-election held in April last year. Congress has again fielded sitting MLA Yashoda Verma from this seat. At the same time, BJP has fielded a young face, Vikrant Singh, Vice President of Rajnandgaon District Panchayat and relative of former Chief Minister Raman Singh.
According to the list, other JCC(J) candidates are Ravi Chandravanshi (Pandariya seat), Sunil Kesharwani (Kawardha), Loknath Bharti (Dongargarh-SC), Shamsul Alam (Rajnandgaon), Mukesh Sahu (Dongargaon), Vinod Puram (Khujji), Nagesh Puram (Mohla-Manpur-ST), Shankar Netam (Kondagaon-ST), Baliram Kachalam (Narayanpur-ST), Sonsai Kashyap (Bastar-ST), Navneet Chand (Jagdalpur), Bharat Kashyap (Chitrakote-ST), Bela Telam. (Dantewada-ST), Ramdhar Jurri (Bijapur-ST) and Devendra Telam (Konta-ST).
No female candidate has been included in this list. The party has not fielded candidates on four seats in Bastar region where voting is to be held in the first phase. JCC(J) had fought the last elections in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party. This alliance had won seven seats. This marginalized party is struggling to remain politically relevant this time.
Amit Jogi had said in an interview that his party is approaching Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS) and Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) for an alliance. However, the party has not yet formed an alliance with any organization. Mayawati led BSP has formed an alliance with GGP.
JCC(J) is in crisis after the death of Ajit Jogi in 2020. It is known that Ajit Jogi, who led the Congress government in the state from 2000 to 2003, had formed JCC (J) (Janata Congress Chhattisgarh-J) in 2016 after separating from the Congress.
JCC(J) had fought the 2018 assembly elections in alliance with BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party, BSP). Although JCC(J) could not influence the election outcome, it managed to make inroads in the politics of the state traditionally dominated by BJP and Congress. In the last assembly elections, Congress returned to power after a long gap. The party won 68 out of a total of 90 seats, while the BJP came second on 15 seats. JCC(J) got five seats and its ally BSP got two seats.
In the last election, JCC(J)’s vote share was 7.6 percent and it had won five seats. This was the first better performance of a regional party in Chhattisgarh. JCC(J) had lost two assembly constituencies, Marwahi and Khairagarh, in the by-elections held after the deaths of Ajit Jogi and Devvrat Singh. The party has expelled two other MLAs Dharamjit Singh and Pramod Sharma. Now Ajit Jogi’s wife Renu Jogi, representing the Kota seat, is the only MLA of the party.
