Ajit Jogi

Ajit Pramod Kumar Jogi (29 April 1946 29 May 2020) was an Indian politician who served as the first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh from 2000 to 2003 and a member of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly from Marwahi from 2001 to 2013 and from 2018 to 2020. He also served as a member of Lok Sabha from Mahasamund from 2004 to 2008 and from Raigarh from 1998 to 1999 and member of the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh from 1986 to 1998 and District Collector of Raipur from 1978 to 1981. He was a member of Indian National Congress till 2016 and the founder of the political party named Janta Congress Chhattisgarh and the first President of the party from 2016 until his death in 2020.

Education Jogi studied Mechanical Engineering at Maulana Azad College of Technology (MACT), Bhopal. He was the college topper and hence received the University Gold Medal in 1968. He studied law at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. After briefly working as a lecturer at the National Institute of Technology, Raipur, he was selected for two of the most coveted civil services of India; the Indian Police Service and the Indian Administrative Service. He was selected for the Indian Police Service aged 22. Two years later he was selected for Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He was posted in his home state, Madhya Pradesh as an IAS officer. He was a gold medallist in Mechanical Engineering. He began his professional career as a lecturer in one of the engineering colleges of Raipur city. After completing his IAS training he was deputed at Raipur as District Magistrate. He was chosen by the Chief Minister Prakash Chandra Sethi to be the collector for Sidhi district. He later served as the collector of Shahdol, Raipur and Indore districts. Later he became member of Rajya Sabha aged 40. Ajit Jogi was representing Indian National Congress, his main contender was Chandu Lal Sahu from the BJP. and Jogi was accused of creating 11 namesakes similar to his BJP rival, as independents, to confuse voters.

Jogi launched a party in Thathapur village of Kawardha district and directly challenged Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Raman Singh.

In February 2018, Jogi announced that he would contest the election from Rajnandgaon, and after some time he also announced that he would contest the election from Marwahi. On 29 April Jogi gathered more than 72000 people for rally on his birthday. 1998–2000 Spokesman, AICC, Whip, Congress Parliamentary Party, Working President, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee 1998–99 Member, Committee on Human Resource Development and its Sub-Committee-II on Medical Education, Committee on Coal, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Coal 2000–2003 Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh 2008– Member of the Legislative Assembly of Chhattisgarh, representing the Marwahi constituency However, after five years of the registering of a case against him, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) based on an opinion of then Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) Gopal Subramanian said that Jogi could not be prosecuted under any law. However the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the Congress led UPA government misused the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to protect Jogi.

On 6 June 2016, Jogi announced he was breaking his affiliation with Indian National Congress at a political gathering in Chhattisgarh.

In August 2019, a high-level judicial committee dismissed Jogi's claim of belonging to a Scheduled Tribe (ST) and cancelled all his caste certificates. Jogi was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record). Additionally, Jogi was accused of cheating and forgery in connection with the declaration in a poll affidavit submitted by him during the 2013 Assembly elections. Facing a first information report (FIR) and arrests in the fake caste certificate case, Jogi was admitted to a private hospital in Delhi-NCR after he complained of breathing problem.

Death Jogi died in the afternoon of Friday, 29 May 2020, aged 74. Since he was a Christian, he was laid to rest at a cemetery at Jyotipur area in Gaurela town of GPM district in Chhattisgarh.