Ambikapur Constituency- A Bastion Of Congress Party (image-twitter/tssinghdeo)

Ambikapur Constituency of Chhattisgarh has witnessed the toughest battle between the ruling Congress party and BJP during the state assembly election 2023. The BJP has fielded Rajesh Agarwal against the deputy chief minister TS Singh Deo. The BJP announced the candidate’s name in the fourth and final candidate list. Fondly known as TS Baba, TS Singh Deo belongs to the Sarguja former royal family.

The Ambikapur constituency in the Surguja district voted on November 17 during the second phase of Chhattisgarh assembly election. The constituency falls in the north region of the Chhattisgarh and it is categorized as a rural seat. Ambikapur is the headquarters of the district Surguja. There are eight constituencies in the Surguja district- Premnagar, Bhatgaon, Pratappur, Ramanujganj, Samri, Lundra, Ambikapur and Sitapur.

Chhattisgrah was once part of the state Madhya Pradesh and became a separate state in 2000. Since its formation, Ambikapur constituency has witnessed four assembly elections.

The Ambikapur constituency is regarded as a stronghold of the Congress with the grand-old party winning 12 times which includes three consecutive wins by Congress leader T S Singh Deo, since its formation in 1952. While BJP was only able to win the seat only twice.

In the last assembly election, Congress leader T S Singh Deo continued the Congress legacy in the constituent by defeating the BJP candidate Anurag Singh Deo by a whooping margin of 39,624 votes. The deputy chief minister took hold of the office after securing 100,439 votes while the BJP candidate secured 60,815 votes in the election. In 2013, TS Singh secure the seat with over 19,000 votes and in 2018, he won by the margin of more than 39,000 votes. In all three election, Anurag Singh contested against TS Baba.

The last time BJP emerged victorious from the constituency was in 2003, when it fielded Kamal Bhan Singh against Congress Madan Gopal Singh.