Budhini: In Which The Ramayana Actor Confronts Four-Time MLA Shivraj Chouhan
Budhni is one of the central-Indian assembly constituency where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) came head-to-head in the 2023 assembly elections. Being one among the important constituencies of the state of Madhya Pradesh, the political parties on both the sides will be looking keen into the counting procedures, with each expecting victory accompanied by a substantial vote margin.
Budhni (constituency number 156) is one among the four legislative assemblies located in Sehore district. The voting was held on November 17 and counting is scheduled for December 3. Budhni is currently held by the incumbent Chief Minister of the state, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a senior BJP leader and party’s National Vice President. Being a steadfast labourer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and four-time chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Chauhan is enthralled with robust power within the ruling political party in India, under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and also outside the sphere.
Major opponent of Shivraj Chouhan was Vikram Mastal, fielded by Congress . Vikram Mastal is a television actor who was best known for his Hanuman role in the 2008 television serial Ramayan. He played a pivotal role in the television program which retold the Hindu epic Ramayana. Vikram Mastal joined Congress in July this year.
Budhni is a strong hold of BJP, where Shivraj Chouhan took hold of the office since 2006. He won the constituency in 2018, securing 123,492 votes (60.25%) while 64,493 votes were secured in favour of Arun Sebhashchandra of the Congress. The margin was 58,999 votes. In 2018, Sanjeev Kumar was the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate and Vimlesh RB was fielded for Aam Aadmi Party.
In 2013, Mahendra Singh Chauhan of the INC was defeated by Shivraj Chouhan, where the vote margin was calculated at 84,805 votes. The former secured only 43,925 votes while the later won earning 128,730 votes (69.99%) in total. Comparing 2013 and 2018, Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s voter turnout decreased almost 9%. In 2008, he won 62.15 % of the total votes and in 2006 by-polls, secured 59.07 % votes of the state. From 1957, the Congress secured the seat four times and BJP won the constituency four times.
