Ambikapur
- Municipal corporation
- 2,14,575
- Urban agglomeration
- 2,43,173
- Sex ratio
- 920 women per 1,000 men
- Children under six
- 11.3%
- Effective literacy
- 88.20%
- Male / female literacy
- 92.73% / 83.29%
Constituency No. 10 · Surguja
Ambikapur, Surguja
अंबिकापुर विधानसभा क्षेत्र
A general seat, one of 90 in the Chhattisgarh Assembly, covering the headquarters of Surguja district and of the Surguja division.
- Assembly constituency number
- 10
- Seat first constituted
- 1951
- Registered electors, 2023
- 2,56,691
- Elevation of the city
- 623 m
Electors and the 1951 origin: Wikipedia’s compilation of Election Commission reports. Elevation: Wikipedia, Ambikapur.
The city
Headquarters of a forested division
सरगुजा संभाग का मुख्यालय
Ambikapur sits at about 23.12°N, 83.20°E, on a plateau at 623 metres. The municipal area is 35.36 km². The Surguja division gathered around it has six districts: Surguja, Korea, Manendragarh, Balrampur, Surajpur and Jashpur.
The India Meteorological Department’s 1991–2020 normals, as published for the station, put average annual rainfall at 1,379 mm. The recorded extremes at the station run from 0.9°C to 44.9°C. Winter mornings are cold for central India; the monsoon months carry most of the rain.
Hindi and Chhattisgarhi are the official languages. The district administration describes a large tribal population in the rural Surguja, including the Pando and Korwa communities, and notes a Tibetan settlement associated with Mainpat.
Sources: Wikipedia, Ambikapur (geography, climate table citing IMD, division, languages); District Surguja, Demography.
Census 2011
City and district, last completed census
जनगणना 2011
The 2021 census was not completed. These figures are the 2011 census as published by the District Administration. Later estimates are left out.
Surguja district
- Population
- 23,61,329
- Density
- 150 people per km²
- Growth, 2001–2011
- 19.74%
- Sex ratio
- 976 women per 1,000 men
- Literacy
- 61.16%
- Rank among districts, 2011
- 192nd in India
Source: District Surguja — Demography, citing the 2011 census.
Around the headquarters
Places and connections
शहर और उसके आसपास
Maa Mahamaya
माँ महामाया
The city takes its name from the goddess Ambika, worshipped here as Mahamaya. It was the capital of the princely state of Surguja before Independence.
Mainpat
मैनपाट
A hill station in Surguja, about 55 km by road from Ambikapur. A Tibetan settlement grew here after 1959. The state tourism plan treats it as a place for better visitor facilities.
Maa Mahamaya Airport
माँ महामाया एयरपोर्ट
At Darima, 12 km south of the city. Upgradation finished in May 2023, at a reported cost of ₹48 crore, so that 70–72 seat aircraft can operate under UDAN. It is the fourth public airport in the state, after Raipur, Jagdalpur and Bilaspur.
Surguja Palace
सरगुजा पैलेस
Also called Raghunath Palace. A white, two-storey palace in the city, associated with the former ruling family.
Campus town
शिक्षा नगरी
Sant Gahira Guru Vishwavidyalaya (Sarguja University), the Rajmata Shrimati Devendra Kumari Singhdeo Government Medical College, Government Engineering College Ambikapur, and Sainik School Ambikapur.
Road and rail
सड़क और रेल
Broad-gauge trains run to Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh, with services toward Raipur, Bilaspur, Jabalpur and Delhi. By road, Raipur is about 345 km. The PIN code is 497001 and the vehicle series is CG-15.
Place notes: Wikipedia, Ambikapur. Mainpat’s distance is given there as about 55 km by road. Photographs: Mahamaya temple, Commissioner, Surguja Division; Mainpat, Xtra Click, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0; airport, Indifacts, Wikimedia Commons, CC0; railway station, Ayazmaqbool, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A civic record
The city’s waste model
स्वच्छता का स्थानीय मॉडल
This is the municipal corporation’s work, documented on its own, separate from the MLA’s schemes. Ambikapur is widely cited for decentralised waste handling: door-to-door collection, segregation, and a landfill that was turned into a park.
45 tonnes a day
Solid waste the city was reported to generate, with about 90% segregated.
2016
A 15-acre landfill was converted into a park. Accounts from that period describe the city as landfill-free.
2019
A garbage cafe near the main bus stand began exchanging plastic for a meal: 1 kg for lunch or dinner, 500 g for breakfast.
Women’s groups
Household collection has been run through self-help groups under the municipal model.
Source: Wikipedia, Ambikapur, summarising reports including NDTV and the India Water Portal.
Election 2023
Won by 94 votes
विधानसभा चुनाव 2023
Rajesh Agrawal (BJP) polled 90,780 votes. T. S. Singh Deo (INC), Deputy Chief Minister and the sitting MLA since 2008, polled 90,686. The margin was 94 votes, about 0.05% of votes counted in the published result table.
| Candidate | Party | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Rajesh Agrawal | BJP | 90,780 |
| T. S. Singh Deo | INC | 90,686 |
| Balsai Korram | Gondwana Gantantra Party | 6,083 |
| None of the Above | NOTA | 2,168 |
| Rakesh Kumar Sahu | Independent | 1,318 |
| Abdul Majid | Janta Congress Chhattisgarh | 1,193 |
| Margin | 94 | |
Source: Election Commission of India – List of Successful Candidates 2023
The other 2023 candidates are from the Election Commission table compiled at Wikipedia, Ambikapur Assembly constituency.
Four elections, one seat
2008 से 2023
From 2008 to 2018 the seat stayed with T. S. Singh Deo, and the margin widened each time. In 2023 it changed hands by the smallest gap of the four contests. The 2003 election, the first after Chhattisgarh became a state, was won by Kamalbhan Singh Marabi of the BJP.
| Year | Winner | Party | Votes | Runner-up | Votes | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | T. S. Singh Deo | INC | 56,043 | Anurag Singh Deo | 55,063 | 980 |
| 2013 | T. S. Singh Deo | INC | 84,668 | Anurag Singh Deo | 65,110 | 19,558 |
| 2018 | T. S. Singh Deo | INC | 1,00,439 | Anurag Singh Deo | 60,815 | 39,624 |
| 2023 | Rajesh Agrawal | BJP | 90,780 | T. S. Singh Deo | 90,686 | 94 |
Source: Wikipedia, Ambikapur Assembly constituency, drawing on Election Commission statistical reports for 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2023. The 2023 winner is also named in the Election Commission’s list of successful candidates.
For residents
Reaching the MLA
संपर्क
Requests and grievances can go through the contact form. Two published addresses are the Raipur residence at M-04, Sector 24, Nava Raipur, and the Lakhanpur office on Main Road, District Surguja.
Contact the officeReported public programmes in the area include forest-rights titles in 2024, the Devtikra grievance camp, National Deworming Day, the Ram Lalla train, school enrolment festivals, and jan darshan in Ambikapur and Lakhanpur. The dated list is on the work page.
See the dated record
