How BJP candidate Chandu Lal Sahu beat 13 other Sahus in Chhattisgarh

NEW DELHI: Imagine you are a Lok Sabha candidate. But the moment you start campaigning you realize there are seven namesakes in the fray from the constituency, while 14 share your last name.

Faced with such a unique challenge, BJP candidate Chandu Lal Sahu barely managed to scrape through from Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh, defeating former Chief Minister and Congress bigwig Ajit Jogi by a small margin of just over 1,200 votes.

Speaking to TOI after landing in Delhi, Sahu was a picture of relief. "Despite my Congress rival's best attempt, the people of my constituency have sent me to Parliament. The plan to confuse the voters almost succeeded, we had to work very hard to remove the smokes-screen of lies conjured up by the opposition," said Sahu.

The MP highlighted how latest figures seem to reveal the rival Sahus in his constituency together polled nearly 70,000 votes between them.

"There were a total of 27 candidates fighting from my constituency and two set of EVMs provided for polling. On the first set my name was placed third in order of preference while in the other EVM an independent Chandu Lal Sahu was listed as the third candidate. He got and estimated 20,000 votes only due to this confusion," the BJP leader claimed.

Pointing to the break-up provided by the Election Commission, Sahu said the seven independent Chandu Lal Sahus, the three Chandu Ram Sahus and two Moti Lal Sahus were fielded at Jogi's behest.

"I had to deploy a special army of private volunteers who would visit each house to emphasize that the BJP's lotus symbol is the one that needs to be pressed for me. Even on the EC break-up, you will notice that's how I have been identified. Had it not been for the volunteers who clarified the status, the Congress almost pulled up a victory due to their mischief," he said.

Sahu scoffs at reports on Jogi who too cried foul and plans to file a petition in the high court. "We had complained to the election commission officials about his tactics but it was not accepted. Let him go to court, the facts will emerge."

The newly elected MP said his focus now is on improving the rail link to his constituency and better Cemtre-state coordination to ramp up anti-naxal forces, since Gariaband in the constituency is a Maoist-affected area.