ELECTION AND GOVERNMENT FORMATION: A STUDY OF

CHHATTISGARH

(Project Report)

Submitted To:
Dr. B.K MAHAKUL,
Faculty, Dept. Of Political Science

Submitted by:
Name: Harsh Bajoria
Roll No. – 73
Section: C
Semester – III B.A.LLB (Hons.)

Hidayatullah National Law University, Post Uparwara, Abhanpur,

New Raipur – 492002 (Chhattisgarh)
 DECLARATION

I, Harsh Bajoria hereby declare that, the project work entitled, ‘Election and Government
Formation: A study of Chhattisgarh’ submitted to H.N.L.U., Raipur is record of an original work
done by me under the able guidance of Dr. B.K Mahakul, Faculty Member, H.N.L.U., Raipur.

Place: Raipur

Date: 12.08.2016

Name: Harsh Bajoria

Roll No. 73

Section: C

Semester: III
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the Almighty who gave me the strength to accomplish the project with sheer hard
work and honesty. This research venture has been made possible due to the generous co-
operation of various persons. To list them all is not practicable, even to repay them in words is
beyond the domain of my lexicon.
This project wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my teacher Dr. B.K Mahakul,
Faculty, Dept. of Political Science at HNLU, who had always been there at my side whenever I
needed some help regarding any information. She has been my mentor in the truest sense of the
term. The administration has also been kind enough to let me use their facilities for research
work. I thank them for this.

Much obliged,
Harsh Bajoria
Semester- III
Roll No.-73
 CONTENTS

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………1

2. Objectives of the study…………………………………………………………...2

3. Scope of the study………………………….……………………………………..2

4. Methodology of the study………………………………………………………...3

5. Organisation of the study………………………………………………………...3

6. Karl Marx..……………………………………………………………………..…4

7. Karl Marx’s Philosophy of Communism.………………………………….…...5

8. Criticism Of Karl Marx’s Communist Philosophy …………….……….……12

9. Plato……………………...……………………………………………………….14

10. Plato’s Philosophy of Communism………………………………...…..……....15

11. Criticism Of Plato’s Communist Philosophy…………………………………19

12. Concluding observations……………………………………………...…….…..20

13. References……………………………………………………………...…...……21
 INTRODUCTION

Chhattisgarh is a state in central India. It is the 10th largest state in India, with an area of
135,194 km2. With a population of 25.5 million, Chhattisgarh is the 17th most-populated state of
the nation. It is a source of electricity and steel for India, accounting for 15% of the
total steel produced in the country. Chhattisgarh is one of the fastest-developing states in India.

The state was formed on 1 November 2000 by partitioning 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking south

eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh. Raipur was made its capital city. Chhattisgarh borders the
states of Madhya Pradesh in the northwest, Maharashtra in the southwest, Andhra Pradesh (East
Godavari District) in the south, Telangana (which includes eastern parts of old Bhadrachalam
constituency which was part of East Godavari District prior to 1956 and later added to
Khammam district and most of which was retained by Telangana after Andhra Pradesh's
bifurcation in 2014) in the south, Odisha in the east, Jharkhand in the northeast and Uttar
Pradesh in the north. Currently the state comprises 27 districts.

The Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha or the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state
legislature of Chhattisgarh state in central India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Raipur, the
capital of the state. The Vidhan Sabha comprises 91 Members of Legislative Assembly, which
include 90 members directly elected from single-seat constituencies and one nominated from
the Anglo-Indian community. Total number of reserved assembly constituency for SC is 10 and
the total number of reserved assembly constituency for ST and others is 29. Chhattisgarh Vidhan
Sabha sits for three sessions viz. Budget, Monsoon, Winter.

Chhattisgarh has 11 seats in Lok Sabha out of which 6 are for general, 1 seat is reserved for
Schedule Caste and 4 seats are reserved for Schedule Tribes.1

Currently, Dr. Raman Singh is the Chief Minister, Balram Das Tandon is the Governor,
Gaurishankar Agarwal is the Speaker and Justice Navin Sinha is the Chief Justice of
Chhattisgarh High Court. Bhartiya Janta Party is the ruling party.

1
http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/seats_of_loksabha.aspx
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 OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE

 Dr. R.K Thukral

Analysis of Chhattisgarh State Assembly Election Results

Datanet India Pvt. Ltd (2014) ISBN 978-9380590165

Author Dr. R K Thukral stated that analyzing election results is a science in itself. It also
contains maps of basic features of assembly constituencies, demographic profile as well as
electoral maps, besides state-level time-series comparisons in graphs and top-ten ranking of
assembly constituencies and candidates.

 Politics of Chhattisgarh: Salwa Judum, Nand Kumar Patel, E. S. L. Narasimhan,

Assembly Election Results of Chhattisgarh

General Books LLC, 2010 ISBN 978-1156959275

This books talks about a lot of political scenarios that is talking place in the state of Chhattisgarh.
It talks about Salwa Judum and how it is a curse or boom, talks about the then emerging congress
leader Nand Kumar Patel former governor E.S.L Narasimhan and the results of 2008 state
assembly elections.

 Dr. Anupama Saxena

National Election Study 2009 for Chhattisgarh

Centre for Study of Development Societies, New Delhi, 2009

Author in her work states that human behaviour is more or less similar in certain respect under
given circumstances. The voting behaviour is an illustration in this regard. The task of researcher
is to engage himself to find out the existence of regularities such as price-raise, kinship,
government role, party performance in running Government, party loyalty, demagogies, slogans,
personality to the candidate, economic status etc.

2
 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The broad objective of the study is to study the communist philosophy of Karl Marx and Plato.
The specific objectives or the interrelated objectives of the study are as follows:

i. To understand what is Communism.

ii. To study Karl Marx’s philosophy of communism and its criticisms.
iii. To study and critically analyze Plato’s idea of communism.

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

This project work has been carried out following the descriptive analytical approach. It is based
on the analysis of Communist philosophy of Karl Marx and Plato, talking about their contention
and their criticisms. The similarities and differences have been discussed while comparing it with
each other and analyzing them from a neutral viewpoint.

3
 ELECTIONS IN CHHATTISGARH
A prominent state situated in Central India, Chhattisgarh has a vibrant political history. The
demand for the creation of a separate state of Chhattisgarh existed from as early as the 1920s,
although this demand was tabled in the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1998. The two major
parties which made serious constructive efforts to cater to this legitimate demand are the Indian
National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 1998, the BJP-led Union
Government drafted a bill for the formation of the new state of Chhattisgarh, by bifurcating
sixteen south-eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh, which had Chhattisgarhi as their main dialect.
This bill was unanimously approved by the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, after making certain
alterations to it. However in 1998 itself, fresh general elections were held and the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA), after coming to power in the Centre, redrafted the bill which now
came to be called the Separate Chhattisgarh Bill. This bill was again unanimously passed in the
Madhya Pradesh Assembly and tabled in the Lok Sabha. Both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha
approved the bill and made it into the Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act 2000. This Act was
approved and acknowledged on 25th August 2000 by the then President of India, K.R.
Narayanan.

On 1st of November 2000, the peaceful creation of Chhattisgarh as the 26th state of India was
witnessed. It was on the same day that the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly or the
Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha, responsible for the proper governance of the state, was formed.
Chhattisgarh presently consists of 27 districts. The state is the seat of major political parties and
contributes to the national-level politics of India.

Chhattisgarh is a prominent Indian state with an important mark on the history of the country.
The state has a government that runs the state to maintain law and order in the state. The
government of Chhattisgarh also is responsible for the development of the country. The state
government is selected through the assembly elections, where the political parties of the state
provide their candidates for participating in the election for representations of the 90
constituencies of the state. The election is organized periodically to select the ruling party of the

4
state. The chief minister of Chhattisgarh is selected through the general elections.

The politics of Chhatisgarh is mainly a field for major national political parties like The
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

In present times, BJP has a majority in the legislative assembly while the last time, it was
Congress. However, both of them play an influential role in the state's politics. The present chief
minister of the state is Dr. Raman Singh while Mr Ajit Jogi was the first chief minister of the
newly-created state. Governor is the ceremonial head of the state, but all the real political powers
are with the Chief Minsiter.

5
 CURRENT POLITICAL SCENARIO
Currently, Bhartiya Janta Party is in power. The Cabinet of Ministers are as follows:

1. Dr. Raman Singh ( Chief Minister)

General administration, finance, electronics and information technology, public relations,

aviation, mineral resources, energy and other departments not allocated to a Minister.

2. Mr. Ajay Chandrakar

Panchayat and Rural Development, Parliamentary Affairs, Public Health, Family Welfare and
Medical Education Department

3. Mr. Amar Agarwal

Commercial Tax, Urban Administration, Department of Commerce & Industries and Public
Enterprises

4. Mr. Brij Mohan Agarwal

Agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and water resources, Ayakt, religious trusts and
endowment

5. Sri Kedarnath Kashyap

Tribal and Scheduled Castes Development, Backward Classes and Minorities Development,
School Education

6. Mr. Prem Prakash Pandey

Revenue and disaster management, rehabilitation, higher education, technical education and
manpower planning, science and technology

7. Mr. Punnu Lal nimble

Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, village, Twenty Point Programme, Planning,
Economics and Statistics Department

6
8. Mr. Rajesh Munat

Public Works, Housing and Environment, Transportation

9. Mr. Ramsevak Paikra

Home, Jail and Public Health Engineering

10.Mrs. Ramshila Sahu

Women and Child Development and Social Welfare

11.Mr. Bhaiya Lal Rajwade

Labour, Sports and Youth Welfare Department and the Public Grievances Redressal

12.Mr. Dayal Das Baghel

Cooperation, Culture and Tourism Department

13.Mr. Mahesh Gagda

Forest, Law and Legal Affairs Department

Congress MLA T.S Singhdeo is the elected Leader of the Opposition in Chhattisgarh Assembly.

Presently the politics of Chhattisgarh is reeling under the influence of armed insurgency by the
Naxalites. Naxalites are running parallel governments in the northern and southern parts of
Chhattisgarh. They have killed several civilians and police officials in the recent years, through
their violent operations. Chhattisgarh was the most Naxalite-affected state in 2006. There goes
on a constant struggle between the State Government of Chhattisgarh and the Naxalites. The
state is taking a lot of steps to curb the violent influence of the Naxalites, and to provide the
people of the state a safe life and livelihood.

Chhattisgarh’s politics was bipolar dominated by BJP and Congress and for the last three
Assembly elections, BJP has had a crushing victory over Congress. The main reason for this
huge losses for Congress is said to be the internal disputes within the big leaders of congress. But
7
recently, Ajit Jogi (Former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh) has announced his intention to break
away from Congress and float a new political outfit, in all probability may not end up like others,
who had unsuccessfully tried in the past to shake up bi-polar politics in Chhattisgarh. The
perception in political circles is that he is a mass leader who can cause a dent to both on
Congress and BJP in the 2018 assembly elections. Political analysts feel that in long term, there
will be no impact on state's bi-polar politics, but Jogi floating a new party in the backdrop anti-
incumbency against the 15 year-long BJP rule and the declining fortunes of Congress could
definitely have a single shot impact during the next polls due in 2018.

8
 VIDHAN SABHA OR LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ELECTION

Vidhan Sabha elections are held every 5 years. The assembly so elected has tenure of 5 years
unless dissolved earlier. Chhattisgarh has been divided into 90 constituencies:

9
 Election Results

Assembly Duration Winning Party/Coalition Chief Minister Opposition leader

1st 2000–2003 Indian National Congress Ajit Jogi Nand Kumar Sai

2nd 2003–2008 Bharatiya Janata Party Raman Singh Mahendra Karma

3rd 2008–2013 Bharatiya Janata Party Raman Singh Ravindra Choubey

 4th Vidhan Sabha Election, 2013:

The two-phase Assembly elections of 2013 in Chhattisgarh came to a successful conclusion with
the BJP forming the government three times consecutively, defeating the Congress in a close
fight. Raman Singh registered a hat-trick as the Chief Minister of the state, shattering the hopes
of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi of the Congress, who was hopeful of winning the elections
this time. Ajit Jogi stated that the Congress had accepted the defeat with all humility, and
promised to work hard and strike back to power. The ruling BJP in the Maoist-affected state won
the massive support of the people due to the welfare schemes initiated by the Raman Singh
government.2 Final tally of seats are as follows:

PARTY SEATS
Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) 49
Indian National Congress (INC) 39
Bahujan Samajh Party (BSP) 1
Independent (IND) 1
Total 90

2
http://www.elections.in/chhattisgarh/assembly-constituencies/2013-election-results.html
10
 Important Stats and Dates for Vidhan Sabha Election, 2013:

i. No. of Electors: 1,67,96174

ii. No. of Polling Stations: 21418

iii. Phase I Election: 11th November, 2013

iv. Phase II Election: 19th November, 2013

v. Election Budget: A Limit of Rs. 16 lakh per candidate has been set by the Election
Commission of India (ECI) towards campaign expenditure.

 Role of Naxals in 2013 Chhattisgarh Assembly Election:

The elections were expected to see some turbulence because of the Naxals, who had boycotted
assembly elections also in the past. The police were already receiving reports of Improvised
Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by Naxals near polling stations in order to discourage voting.
To curtail the menace, the Centre had deployed an additional 40,000 personnel of paramilitary
forces in the state. The state government had recommended that 250 polling booths belonging to
sensitive areas be relocated, a measure that had been employed in the past with good results.

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 LOK SABHA ELECTION

Lok Sabha elections are held every 5 years. The members so elected have tenure of 5 years
unless dissolved earlier. Chhattisgarh has been divided into 11 constituencies:

1. Raipur
2. Durg
3. Bilaspur
4. Korba
5. Rajnandgaon
6. Mahasamund
7. Raigarh (ST)
8. Bastar (ST)
9. Surguja (ST)
10. Kanker (ST)
11. Janjgir-Champa (SC)

 Party wise Election Results

Year Party's Name Seats

2004 Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) 10

Indian National Congress (INC) 1
Total 11
2009 Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) 10
Indian National Congress (INC) 1
Total 11
2014 Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) 10
Indian National Congress (INC) 1
Total 11

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  3rd Lok Sabha Election, 2014:

The Lok Sabha Election, 2014 in Chhattisgarh was held in three phases on 10, 17 and 24 April
2014. The ruling BJP is maintained dominance in Chhattisgarh, leading in 10 out of 11 Lok
Sabha seats, while only one candidate won from Congress from the Durg constituency.

 Important Stats and Dates for Lok Sabha Election, 2014:

i. No. of Electors: 1,75,21,023

ii. No. of Polling Stations: 21,424

iii. Phase I Election: 10th April, 2014

iv. Phase II Election: 17th April, 2014

v. Phase II Election: 24th April, 2014

vi. Election Budget: A Limit of Rs. 70 lakhs per candidate has been set by the Election
Commission of India (ECI) towards campaign expenditure.

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 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology and movement which forms a base of a
communist society and whose socio economic order is structured upon the common ownership
of the means of production and absence of social classes, money, land and the and the State.
There are mainly two schools of thoughts including Marxism, Anarchism, and political
ideologies grouped around both.

The study compares and contrasts the communist philosophy of Karl Marx and Plato.

Karl Marx in his book The Communist Manifesto has talked about his idea of communism which
is certainly inspired from the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisies. He has divided
his idea of communism into two halves. According to him, communist society can be achieved
only after the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. He suggested ways through which a
communist society can be achieved where all equal, there is equal pay or equal work, there is no
exploitation of proletariat and the society achieves the status of a classless society.

Plato’s theory on the other hand was derived from his concept of justice. He believed without
communism, there would be clash of ideas and interests and between reason and appetite. Plato
believed that an economic division between the citizens of the state is the most dangerous
political condition. This was due to the widespread and frank opinions expressed determining
political affiliations.

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 REFERENCES

This project report would not have been completed without the following valuable sources of
information:

1. www.jstor.org
2. www.google.com
3. www.yourarticlelibrary.com
4. F. Engels, Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 1878
5. Plato, The Republic
6. Aristotle's Criticism of Plato's Republic by Robert Mayhew, Review by Joyce L.
Jenkins, The Philosophical Review, Vol. 109, No. 3 (Jul., 2000), pp. 425-428

15