Counting of votes in elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly got underway Sunday morning, with security personnel maintaining a strict vigil in counting centres in the state’s 33 districts, including those affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), a poll official said.
The elections were held in two phases on November 7 and 17. Voter turnout stood at 76.31 per cent, which was slightly lower than the 76.88 per cent recorded in the 2018 polls.
“Counting of votes for all the 90 seats started at 8 am in 33 district headquarters. A three-layer security mechanism is in place at each counting centre,” Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Reena Kangale said.
The Congress party aims to retain power in the state in the state. However, the BJP has deployed various strategies, including leveraging the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an attempt to stage a comeback. Although the likely contenders for the Chief Minister position from Congress and BJP are Bhupesh Baghel and Raman Singh, respectively, official announcements from either party are yet to be made.
Key candidates in Chhattisgarh include Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, contesting from his hometown Patan; former Chief Minister Raman Singh, running from Rajnandgaon; Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo, in the fray from Ambikapur; and BJP’s Vijay Baghel, challenging Bhupesh Baghel in Patan. In December 2018, the state witnessed the election of its first non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in 15 years.
The Congress secured 68 seats in the 90-member assembly, while the BJP, which had been in power since the first assembly election in December 2003 under Raman Singh’s leadership, was reduced to just 15 seats.
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