- Sunderlal Patwa has also been CM and Leader of Opposition from this seat
- Surendra Patwa defeated Suresh Pachauri in the last two elections
Vikas Soni, Raisen
Bhojpur assembly is considered a stronghold of the BJP. This area has been known as Patwa Raj for the last 43 years. In 1985, when Sunderlal Patwa was looking for a safe seat in the state, he came to Bhojpur from Sehore. While contesting elections from here, he won four consecutive times till 1998 and in 1992, while being an MLA from this seat, he also became the Chief Minister.
Later, in the Digvijay government, he remained the leader of the opposition from here. In the 2003 elections, when he contested his nephew Surendra Patwa for the first time, Purviya Patti (since Rajesh Patel of Purviya Samaj was in front of Congress) became the reason for Surendra’s defeat. He lost the election by just 1500 votes. For late Sunderlal Patwa, this electoral defeat had become a big defeat in political life as well. But then he set his calculations and got this Purviya Patti removed from Bhojpur in the new delimitation and merged it with Udaipura assembly. Since then, Surendra Patwa has won elections from here continuously for 3 times. He has also been the Minister of Tourism and Culture in the previous government.
Tamot had won 2 times before Patwa- Bhojpur assembly constituency includes Mandideep, Obaidullaganj, Goharganj, Sultanpur to Bari Nagar and rural areas. There are 300 villages in this assembly seat with about 2.25 lakh voters. In the first election on this seat, which came into existence in 1967, the public made Congress candidate Gulabchand Tamot the first MLA of Bhojpur by applying tilak of victory. Tamot was MLA twice from here. Since 1985, the Patwa family has held this seat most of the time.
Surendra Patwa defeated Suresh Pachauri twice – Surendra Patwa defeated veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister Suresh Pachori twice in a row and won by a huge margin. In the 2013 Vidhansabha elections, Surendra Patwa defeated Suresh Pachori with a huge margin of 20149 votes. Pachauri again entered the fray in the 2018 elections but once again he had to face defeat. This time he lost the election to Surendra Patwa by a margin of more than 31 thousand votes. It is worth mentioning that Suresh Pachauri contested the assembly elections for the first time in 2013 from this seat. Prior to this, he has been a Rajya Sabha member for 4 consecutive terms. The birthplace of Pachauri is Bilakhedi village of this area.
Major problems of the area
Absence of MLA, lack of roads in many rural areas
– Bhojpur-Bhimbetka tourism places not developed, unemployment
– Election Factor – Tribal Voter Decisive
All failed in front of Patwa management
After the defeat of his nephew Surendra Patwa by a few votes in the 2003 elections, late Sunderlal Patwa had set the multiplication mathematics of Bhojpur region afresh and this seat, which came under delimitation before the 2008 elections, is the biggest tension of BJP in Purvia. After Patti’s exit, Surendra Patwa was successful in winning the elections thrice in a row in 2008, 2013 and 2018. In the 2013 elections, the strategy of both BJP and Congress had failed in front of the management of late Sunderlal Patwa. In the 2018 elections, BJP was initially feeling the loss of Sundarlal Patwa, but after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took charge, Surendra Patwa won this election by more votes than in 2013.
What Patwa said was accepted for three and a half decades
For almost three and a half decades, Patwa continued to speak for himself in the BJP of the district. When what he said was final and valid. Most of the Patwa supporters held positions in the district BJP, Yuva Morcha and Mahila Morcha. Patwa was also instrumental in making Dr. Gauri Shankar Shejwar the Leader of Opposition after the defeat of BJP in the state in 1998 elections. As soon as his disciple Shivraj became the Chief Minister in 2005, Patwa became powerful again and whatever he said was accepted in the district without any ifs and buts as long as he was alive.
