Lok Sabha elections 2024: 5 facts about Chhattisgarh Rajnandgaon Congress candidate Bhupesh Baghel

Bhupesh Baghel was re-elected as MLA in 2023 but Congress lost in state polls. (document)

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will return to contest for the Lok Sabha after a decade. Mr Baghel, a six-time MP, has emerged from the Rajnandgaon seat, considered a stronghold of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Here are 5 key facts about Bhupesh Baghel:

Mr. Baghel was born on August 23, 1961 in Durg district, the son of a farmer. He belongs to the Kurmi community and is an OBC representative in the Chhattisgarh Congress.
The 62-year-old began his political career in the early 1980s under the guidance of Congress leader Chandulal Chandrakar. Initially, he was a member of the Indian Youth Congress and served as the Vice-President of the Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress in 1994-95. His first major success came in 1993 when he won the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election from Patan constituency. In 1998, he was re-elected in the same seat. In December 1998, he was appointed Minister of State for Public Grievances in United Madhya Pradesh in the government led by Digvijay Singh.
In 2000, after Chhattisgarh was separated from Madhya Pradesh, Bhupesh Baghel became Minister of Revenue, Public Health Engineering and Relief Work. He held this position until 2003. He later led the opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly for more than a decade. Mr. Baghel lost the Patan seat in the 2008 elections. He also lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 from Raipur and 2004 from Durg.
Mr. Baghel served as the president of the Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress Party from October 2014 to June 2019. After leading the opposition party for 15 years, he led the Congress party to a landslide victory in the 2018 Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. Mr. Baghel was elected from the Patan seat and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh on December 17, 2018.
In the 2023 Chhattisgarh assembly polls, Mr. Baghel was re-elected from Patan seat, but the Congress won only 35 seats out of 90. Vishnu Deo Sai of the Bharatiya Janata Party took over as chief minister.