Mirchi Baba Who Contested Against MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Fetches Only 136 votes

Bhopal: Mahamandaleshwar Swami Vairagyanand Giri’s electoral debut in the outgoing Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh in which he took on chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the latter’s home turf in Budhni ended in a disaster with the seer bagging only 136 votes.

The seer had vowed to trounce Mr Chouhan by launching ‘havan campaign’ in Budhni Assembly constituency in the recently held polls generating curiosity among the electorates in the area.

He was often seen performing ‘yagnas’ in the villages under the Assembly constituency during his electioneering pledging to usher in peace and prosperity to the region.

His disciples who accompanied him used to claim that the seer was conducting ‘mirch (chilli) yagna’ to evoke divine intervention not only to win the elections but also to bring peace and prosperity for the people.

People in the rural areas in the Assembly constituency used to watch him performing ‘Mirch Yagna’ out of sheer curiosity.

The seer is famously known as "Mirchi Baba” in Madhya Pradesh for his unique style of performing ‘yagna’ by pouring chilli in the fire instead of ghee.

“His ‘havan campaign’ used to attract the attention of people particularly in rural areas”, Saroj Mishra, a resident of Bhudhni said on Thursday.

“I have never seen such a unique campaign by any candidate or a political party in the elections’, Govardhan Shukla, another local said.

The seer was fielded by Samajwadi Party (SP) in the seat.

In the 13-cornered contest in the constituency, the seer ended up in 11th position by bagging 136 votes.

Two independent candidates, Chotelal and Abdul Rasheed ended in bottom two by securing 117 votes and 103 votes respectively.

Mr Chouhan has retained the seat for BJP by defeating his nearest Congress rival Vikram Mastal, who is known for portraying the role of Hanuman in the TV serial Ramayan-2, by 1,04, 974 votes.

The seer had shot into limelight in 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he declared that he would ensure victory of former chief minister Digvijay Singh, who was then contesting as a Congress candidate in Bhopal seat, by performing a ‘mirch yagna’.

Mr Singh had however lost the polls by a massive margin of over Rs 3.60 lakh votes to BJP MP Pragyan Singh Thakur.

The seer had then attributed the poll loss by Mr Singh to his wrong chanting of shlokas while performing the ‘havan’.

He had faced rape charges by one of his woman devotees and had to spend 13 months in jail before being acquitted by a local court here.