In a big setback for the Congress party, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s lead in the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2023 crossed the majority mark as several incumbent ministers were trailing in their respective constituencies.
According to the official Election Commission of India data, the BJP was leading on 53 seats – seven more than the majority mark. The Congress was ahead in just 36 seats, while others were leading in one.
Chhattisgarh Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu was trailing in Durg Rural seat by 1,365 votes against BJP’s Lalit Chandrakar after the first round of counting of votes for the state assembly elections.
Chhattisgarh Congress chief Deepak Baij was also behind his BJP rival Vinayak Goyal by 518 votes in the Chitrakot seat, according to the EC trends. Chhattisgarh legislative assembly speaker Charan Das Mahant, a prominent Congress party face was also trailing in Sakti seat by 897 votes against BJP’s Khilawan Sahu.
Another incumbent minister Guru Rudra Kumar was trailing in Nawagarh seat by 660 votes against BJP’s former minister Dayaldas Baghel, while minister Mohammad Akbar was behind BJP’s Vijay Sharma in Kawardha seat by 1534 votes.
Chhattisgarh minister Shivkumar Dahariya was also trailing in Arang seat by 1,700 votes against BJP’s Guru Khushwant Saheb. Jai Singh Agrawal, a close associate of CM Baghel was also trailing in Korba seat by more than 800 votes against BJP leader Lakhanlal Dewangan.
According to the latest EC trends, the BJP is all set to return to power in the state where it was reduced to just 15 seats in 2018. The results, as shown in early trends, are completely different from what exit polls had predicted. Congress was predicted to retain power in early poll predictions.