Chhattisgarh Election Results Counting Day LIVE Updates: Congress ahead on 22 seats, indicate early trends Read In Hindi

Chhattisgarh Election Results Counting Day LIVE Updates: Will BJP win prestige battle for three-term Chief Minister Raman Singh or Congress' fight for resurgence prove to be a success? It will be known only when counting of votes concludes today and political fortunes of many top political leaders are locked. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking a fourth straight term in office, the Congress is aiming to stage a comeback after being out of power for the last 15 years. This time, the coalition between Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), former chief minister Ajit Jogi's Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and Communist Party of India (CPI) has added another dimension to the electoral politics of the state which has been dominated by the BJP and the Congress.

 

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking a fourth straight term in office, the Congress is aiming to stage a comeback after being out of power for the last 15 years.Tight security arrangements have been made at the counting centres in all 27 districts, particularly the Naxal-affected ones, where voting was held in two phases on November 12 and 20 to elect a new 90-member Assembly. The state had recorded 76.60 per cent voter turnout.

 

8:54 AM: BJP ahead on 36 seats, Congress on 22

 

8:53 AM: Congress now ahead on 22 seats while BJP on 14 seats

 

8:45 AM: BJP now ahead on 15 seats, Congress on 19

 

8:43 AM: BJP now ahead on 18 seats, Congress on 19

 

8:36 AM: BJP is now ahead on 14 seats, while Congress is leading on 16 seats

 

8:29 AM: According to latest update on postal ballot counting, BJP is now leading on 12 seats while Congress on 10

 

8:24 AM: In postal ballots counting, BJP is leading on 7 seats now while Congress is leading on 9

 

8:15 AM: In postal ballots counting, both Congress and BJP are ahead on four seats each

 

8:00 AM: Counting of votes begins in Chhattisgarh 

 

7:45 AM: Visuals from outside a counting centre in Raipur

 

 

 

7:40 AM: We are enthusiastic about the results of Assembly elections and are hopeful of our victory, says Raman Singh 

 

7:14 AM: In the 2013 elections, the BJP won 49 seats, the Congress 39, while one seat each was bagged by the BSP and an Independent.

 

6:59 AM: State BJP chief Dharamlal Kaushik said the party will register a victory for the fourth consecutive term and the Congress should accept its defeat.

 

6:44 AM: On the eve of counting of votes, BJP and Congress claimed victory, while Jogi's outfit also expressed confidence of forming the next government. 

 

6:39 AM: The fate of 1,079 contestants, including the chief minister, his 11 ministers and state presidents of the BJP and the Congress will be decided Tuesday.

 

6:26 AM: As many as 5,184 counting personnel and 1,500 micro-observers have been appointed for smooth conduct of the process.

 

6:18 AM: Several exit polls have predicted a neck-and-neck fight between the big two while some have projected victory for the Rahul Gandhi-led party. 

 

6:00 AM: Counting of postal ballots will begin at 8 am on Tuesday and half-an-hour after they are counted, the process to count votes from the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will begin in Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections.

 

The highest number of 30 candidates have locked horns in the Rajnandgaon constituency, while the lowest number of five nominees are fighting it out in Bastar and Kondagaon seats each. The keenly-watched constituency will be Rajnandgaon, where Chief Minister Raman Singh of the ruling BJP and Congress candidate Karuna Shukla, niece of former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are in the fray. Stakes are very high for the BJP on these 18 seats as it had lost 12 of them in the last polls in 2013. In the last Assembly polls, of the total 90 seats, the BJP had won 49 seats, Congress 39, BSP 1 and independent 1.

Prominent candidates from the BJP for the November 20 polls include nine incumbent ministers - Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur city south seat), Rajesh Munat (Raipur city west), Amar Agrawal (Bilaspur), Bhaiyyalal Rajwade (Baikunthpur), Ramsevak Paikra (Pratappur), Punnulal Mohile (Mungeli), Prem Prakash Pandey (Bhilai Nagar), Dayaldas Baghel (Nawagarh) and Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud) besides BJP state president Dharamlal Kaushik (Bilha).

Will Raman Singh secure 4th term or Ajit Jogi pull a 'Kumaraswamy'?

The key Congress candidates include its state chief Bhupesh Baghel (Patan), Leader of Opposition in the Assembly T S Singhdeo (Ambikapur), party MP from Durg Lok Sabha seat Tamradhwaj Sahu (Durg rural) and former Union minister Charandas Mahant (Shakti).

Besides, Ajit Jogi is contesting from Marwahi, his wife Renu Jogi from Kota while his daughter-in-law Richa Jogi is a BSP nominee from Akaltara seat. In the second phase, the highest number of 46 nominees contested in the Raipur city south seat, while the lowest number of six fought in the Bindranavagarh seat.

Of the 90 Assembly segments, 51 are general while 10 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 29 for Scheduled Tribes. As per the final electoral rolls, total 1,85,59,936 voters, including 92,95,301 males, 92,49,459 females and 1,059 third gender voters, will be exercising their franchise.There are 19 constituencies where more than two ballot units were used in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) as more than 16 candidates are in the fray there. Similarly, more than three ballot units were used in three constituencies as over 32 candidates are contesting from there.