Chhattisgarh: Its doctor Vs doctor for Marwahi assembly by-poll
The constituency has been the bastion of the Jogis since the formation of the state in 2000.
Raipur - A day after the BJP named a tribal surgeon as its candidate for the Marwahi assembly bypoll in Chhattisgarh, the ruling Congress on Monday fielded a veteran doctor against him.
Dr Krishan Kumar Dhruw, who had a long stint as the block medical officer (BMO) in the area, is the Congress candidate from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seat where polling will take place on November 3.
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The Marwahi seat, which falls in the newly-formed Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM) district, fell vacant following the death of sitting MLA and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) chief Ajit Jogi in May.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal for candidature of Dr Dhruw for the Marwahi by- election, a partys state spokesperson here said.
The 56-year-old Dhruw, who had joined the government service as a medical officer in Lemru (Korba district) in 1998, was transferred to the Marwahi community health centre in 2001.
Since 2004, the MBBS graduate had been posted as the BMO in Marwahi before he resigned recently to enter politics.
I have been discharging my services to the people of Marwahi as a medical professional for the past 20 years and now will work for their other development issues, he told PTI.
The BJP on Sunday had announced Dr Gambheer Singh, a former professor of Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Medical College Raipur, as its nominee for the bypoll.
The constituency has been the bastion of the Jogis since the formation of the state in 2000.
After becoming the first Chief Minister of the state in 2000, Ajit Jogi contested the by-election from Marwahi in 2001 and won.
He emerged victorious in the 2003 and 2008 Assembly elections as well.
In 2013, Ajit Jogi''s son Amit Jogi successfully contested from Marwahi.
In 2016, the Jogi senior quit the Congress and floated Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J).
He won from Marwahi again as the JCC (J) candidate in 2018 polls which saw the Congress coming to power by ousting the BJP which was at the helm for 15 years.
The JCC (J) had bagged five seats while its ally the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won two seats in the assembly elections.
In 2019, the Congress scored victories in Chitrakoot and Dantewada by-elections, taking its tally in the 90-member House to 69 while the BJP has 14 MLAs.
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