BJP set to form government in Chhattisgarh

Reversing the early gains that the Congress made as officials counted the votes polled in elections to the 90-seat Assembly, BJP had won 34 seats and was leading in 20 while the Congress won 21 and was ahead in 14 constituencies.

Although the chief minister and Congress face Bhupesh Baghel again led in Patna after trailing for a while, most Congress stalwarts were either trailing on doing badly in their turfs.

The Congress ministers who are trailing include Tamradhwaj Sahu (Durg Rural), Jai Singh Agarwal (Korba), Mohammed Akbar (Kawardha), Kawasi Lakhma (Konta) and Guru Rukra Kumar (Navaarh).

An overjoyed BJP leader and former chief minister Raman Singh told the media that his party was set to take power in Chhattisgarh along with Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

“Today is an unprecedented day for Chhattisgarh,” he said. “I have been saying that the BJP’s majority is hidden in the exit polls itself, which turned out to be true.”

“We are on the way of forming governments in all three states,” he added.

Raman Singh

Raman Singh, who was chief minister of Chhattisgarh for 15 long years until the Congress unseated his party in 2018, again led in Rajnandgaon after trailing to the ruling party earlier.

The counting trends were contrary to earlier claims by chief minister Baghel that the Congress will again sweep Chhattisgarh, bagging at least 75 of the 90 seats.

The BJP led an aggressive campaign against the Congress in Chhattisgarh, whose chief minister based his optimism on the strength of the welfare state he ran.

The counting of votes polled in the 90 constituencies started at 8 am. The elections were held on November 7 and 17.