Chhattisgarh Election Results 2023 updates | BJP wins 54 seats, returns to power

Senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel resigned as Chief Minister on Sunday night after the party lost power to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly polls.

“I respect the mandate of the people. Congress will play a positive role in the opposition,” Baghel told reporters outside Raj Bhavan after submitting his resignation to Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan.

-PTI

Bhupesh Baghel, who was getting ready to continue as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh after exit polls predicted a Congress victory, on Sunday suffered a setback as the BJP wrested the state from the hands of the grand old party.

The Congress leader, who resigned as the chief minister Sunday night, emerged victorious in the Patan assembly seat, defeating BJP candidate Vijay Baghel by 19,723 votes in the state assembly elections held last month.

-PTI

The two tribal dominated divisions of Surguja and Bastar having 26 Assembly seats that contributed hugely to the Congress’ landslide victory in Chhattisgarh in 2018 have swung to the Bharatiya Janata Party this time.

The Congress had ended up with a tally of 68 in the 90-member Assembly in 2018, ending the 15-year rule of the BJP, which could win just 15 seats.

In the 2023 polls, results of which were announced on Sunday, the BJP has won 13 of the 14 seats in Surguja division.

-PTI

Having pressed the pause button on the INDIA bloc, putting the Opposition alliance in a state of suspended animation while it focused on Assembly elections, where it has lost three of the four States, the Congress is now facing the fury of the coalition’s other constituents, who are calling it a missed opportunity.

Read the story here.

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Chhattisgarh Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu lost in Durg Rural to BJP’s Lalit Chandrakar. He lost by a margin of 16,642 votes.

Counting is done in 85 constituencies and are in progress in 5. BJP has won 51 seats so far.

With final counting coming to a conclusion in 78 out of 90 constituencies, BJP is past the majority mark - placed at 46 and leading in 8 constituencies. Congress has secured 31 seats in the Vidhan Sabha and leading in 4 with Gondvana Gantantra Party (GGP) having secured one seat. 

Counting is ongoing in 12 constituencies. 

Tuleshwar Hira Singh Markam would be representing Pali-Tanakhar constituency at the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha after defeating Congress’ Duleshwari Sidar by a margin of 714 votes. Mr Makram was trailing in the early hours of counting before gathering pace in the later end of the day. 

Referring to the verdict as “historical and unprecedented, Prime Minister Modi addressing party workers at the Delhi headquarters said the idea of he idea of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ won today. 

Gondvana Gantantra Party’s Tuleshwar Hira Singh Markam is leading by a margin of 537 votes in the Pali-Tanakhar constituency. Congress candidate Duleshwari Sidar is holding the second spot.

BJP’s Vinayak Goyal defeated Congress MP Deepak Kumar Baij competing from Chitrakot by a margin of 8,370 votes. Mr Baij is the President of the Chhatisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee and represents Bastar in the Lok Sabha. 

Former Women and Child Development Minister of Chhattisgarh Lata Usendi secures a win from Kondagaon Vidhan Sabha constituency by a margin of 18,752 votes. Congress’ State President Mohan Makram secured the second spot.

Accepting defeat in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the battle of ideology would continue. He also congratulated the party cadre in Telangana for the victory today. 

Candidates Ram Vichar Netam and Vishnu Deo Sai were declared the winners for BJP in these constituencies. The party is also leading on 54 other seats and appears set to win the State. Rival Congress party are leading in 34 constituencies.

Speaking to ANI, Mr. Sao said that Chhattisgarh will now move forward towards development. “The people of Chhattisgarh have received (Prime Minister) Modi’s guarantee,” he says.

Wherever there is Congress, there will be crime, corruption, and hindrance to development, the leader adds.

With a couple of counting rounds to go, Mr. Sao is on his way to victory in the Lormi constituency. He is currently an MP in the Lok Sabha from Bilaspur constituency in the State. He has held the post of BJP’s Chhattisgarh President since August 2022.

Some experts have suggested that Mr. Sao could be among the candidates considered for the post of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister. Since appointing Mr. Sao and Narayan Chandel as the State President and the Leader of the Opposition respectively, senior BJP leaders of the party have often ducked the question of who would be the party’s “face for 2023” and steered clear of using former Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh’s name during big-ticket events.

Bilaspur division, located in the central region, has the highest number of 25 Assembly constituencies which will play a crucial role in deciding the winner this time. 

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Congress leader T.S. Singh Deo, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister of the State, is trailing behind BJP candidate Rajesh Agrawal. 

Mr. Agrawal is a former Congress leader who quit the party ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections. BJP has lost the Ambikapur constituency in the last three elections held in 2018, 2013, and 2008.

Congress’ Mohammed Akbar is trailing by 15,612 votes to BJP’s Vijay Sharma in Kawardha constituency. Mr Akbar is the only competing Muslim candidate in the state.

Chhattisgarh Congress President Mohan Markam is trailing by 4,213 votes to Lata Usendi of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Also the national vice-president of her party, Ms Usendi is particularly known for raising women-centric issues relevant to the tribal population of the state. She has formerly served as Cabinet Minister and is a three-time MLA. 

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Former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh appeared confident that the BJP would form the government in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as the party crossed the half-way mark in all three states as per the latest election trends of the Election Commission of India.

Accusing the Congress government of “backtracking” on its promises made to the public, Raman Singh said, “The biggest issues were the corruption done by the incumbent Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government and all the development work had been stalled.”

An analysis of NOTA vote share in the past Assembly elections shows that the share has been relatively high in areas affected by Left-Wing Extremism (LWE). Many such Assembly seats were in Chhattisgarh. But, a comparison of the NOTA vote share in the 2023 Chhattisgarh elections to the 2018 results show that the Naxal influence on voting in the State has come down considerably. This story is based on the 25% of votes counted in Chhattisgarh till now, and will be updated later.

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Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) founded by Hira Singh Markam primarily works for the tribal community. The party has entered into an alliance with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the forthcoming polls. The party has been performing well in the last few elections in the tribal dominated areas of Chhattisgarh.

The party announced the names of two candidates - Shyam Singh Markam from Bharatpur-Sonhat and party’s national president Tuleshwar Singh Markam from Pali Tanakhar seat which falls in Korba parliamentary constituency. 

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Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel leads in the Patan seat by a margin of 187 votes against BJP’s Vijay Baghel after first round as counting is still underway. 

State BJP chief Arun Sao is leading in the Lormi seat by a margin of 2,376 votes against Congress’ Thaneshwar Sahu after the first round of counting, as per the EC.

- PTIRead more here

Chhattisgarh’s Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS), which is an umbrella organisation of tribal communities in the state registered a new political party under the name of ‘Hamar Raj Party’ (HRP) which is founded by former Union Minister Arvind Netam

They declared a list of 19 candidates which included name of DIG Akbar Ram Korram from Bhanupratappur, who also contested the elections as an independent candidate on behalf of the tribal community during the Bhanupratappur by-election. 

Chhattisgarh BJP chief, Arun Sao claims that the people of Chhattisgarh have already rejected the Congress party. “The Congress party is scared and nervous. Whenever Congress is about to lose or lose, it blames the EVMs and sometimes it blames the Constitution. Congress party is going to lose the elections. The people of Chhattisgarh have rejected them,” he said.

MP Arun Sao is seeking mandate from the Lormi assembly constituency against Congress’ Thaneshwar Sahu. 

- ANI

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