Kantilal Bhuria: Tribal Leader And His Seat In Ratlam (image:.facebook.com/kantilal.bhuria)

Congress leader Kantilal Bhuria is not a new face in the Ratlam Lok Sabha Constituency. It has been his home turf. He won the elections five times from the seat and faced defeat in 2014 and 2019.  In the upcoming polls, he is fielded against BJP candidate Anita Nagar Singh Chauhan. Ratlam parliamentary constituency is a Scheduled Tribes (ST) reserved seat.

Kantilal Bhuria hails from the tribal-dominated Jhabua district. He is one of the longest-serving parliamentarians. In the UPA governments, he served as the Tribal Affairs Minister and Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution.

Formerly known as Jhabua Lok Sabha constituency, it was renamed Ratlam in 2008. The constituency has been one of the strongholds of the Congress Party. From 1980 to 2009, the seat has shown unwavering allegiance to Congress. In the 2014 elections, BJP candidate Dileep Singh Bhuria (earlier associated with Congress) won the constituency, and Kantilal Bhuria lost the election. But Kantilal Bhuria won back the constituency in the 2015 by-polls.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress leader lost his seat again. He was defeated by BJP candidate Guman Singh Damor by a margin of 90636 votes. Following, he contested the Jhabua assembly by-election and won. Congress appointed Kantilal Bhuria as the head of the Madhya Pradesh assembly election campaign committee in 2023. By giving the veteran politician a ticket again in the constituency, Congress hopes to garner the tribal vote bank, which has contributed to the party”s victory before.

Anita Nagar Singh Chauhan, the new face in the election, is the wife of Madhya Pradesh Forest Minister Nagar Singh Chauhan.