5 Facts About Jyotsna Mahant, Congress Candidate From Chhattisgarh's Korba Lok Sabha Seat

The Congress has fielded Jyotsna Mahant once again from the Korba Lok Sabha seat. In 2019, Ms Mahant defeated BJP candidate Jyoti Nand Dubey by over 25,000 votes. This time, she will be contesting against BJP's Saroj Pandey. 

Here are five key facts about Jyotsna Mahant:

1. Jyotsna Mahant completed her BSc in 1974 and MSc in Zoology from Bhopal University in 1976. She married prominent Congress leader Charan Das Mahant on November 23, 1980. The couple have four children – three daughters and a son.

2. She has been working as a social worker with her husband for the past several decades. Her husband Charan Das Mahant is the Leader of the Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly, while her father-in-law Bisahu Das Mahant was a six-time Congress MLA.

3. Charan Das Mahant first became an MP from the Korba seat in 2009 but lost in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to BJP's Banshilal Mahto. In 2019, Congress decided to field Jyotsna Mahant from this parliamentary constituency. She defeated BJP's Jyoti Nand Dubey by over 25,000 votes.

4. Jyotsna Mahant, 70, has been involved with multiple development projects in the Korba region for over four decades now as a social worker. After the Congress's drubbing in Chhattisgarh assembly polls, Ms Mahant faces an uphill battle in Korba, especially because the BJP secured win in six of the eight Assembly seats that fall under the Lok Sabha constituency.

5. In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Ms Mahant faces a formidable challenge in the form of BJP leader Saroj Pandey. Ms Pandey is a former Lok Sabha MP from Durg and was appointed the national president of BJP Mahila Morcha in 2013.