Massive victory for Congress in Chhattisgarh

The opposition Congress is headed for a massive victory in Chhattisgarh, bagging 45 seats and leading in 23 constituencies in the 90-member assembly in the state.

• Battle for 5 states: LEADS/RESULTS

As per the latest trends, the Bharatiya Janata Party clinched only 10 seats and was leading in five others.

While the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) of former chief minister Ajit Jogi won two seats and was ahead in three, its ally Bahujan Samaj Party clinched one seat and was leading in another constituency.

In an embarrassment to the ruling party, two of its sitting ministers lost and six were trailing.

Minister Mahesh Gagda lost to Congress' Vikram Mandavi from Bijapur seat by a margin of 21,584 votes and minister Kedar Kashyap lost to Congress' Chandan Kashyap from Narayanpur by 2,647 votes.

However, BJP minister Ajay Chandrakar managed to retain his Kurud seat by defeating an independent candidate Neelam Chandrakar by 12,317 votes.

Leader of Opposition T S Singhdeo defeated BJP's Anurag Singhdeo by a margin of 39,624 votes.

He had also defeated Anurag in previous two polls in 2008 and 2013.

Congress' Deputy Leader of Opposition Kawasi Lakhma emerged as winner from Konta seat defeating BJP's Dhaniram Barse by 6,709 votes.

Chief Minister Raman Singh was leading in Rajnandgaon seat by a margin of 16,445 votes against his nearest rival Karuna Shukla of the Congress.

Six ministers in the BJP government Rajesh Munat (Raipur City West constituency), Ramsevak Paikra (Pratappur), Bhaiyyalal Rajwade (Baikunthpur), Dayaldas Baghel (Nawagarh), Pramprakash Pandey (Bhilai Nagar) and Amar Agrawal (Bilaspur) were trailing.

Besides, state assembly Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal was also trailing.

State presidents of the BJP Dharamlal Kaushik and Congress Bhupesh Baghel were leading from Bilha and Patan seats respectively.

While Ajit Jogi won Marwahi seat, his wife Renu Jogi was leading in Kota.
The voting was held in two phases on November 12 and 20 to elect a new 90-member assembly. A total of 1,269 contestants, including 133 women, were in the fray.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Raman Singh offered his resignation to Governor Anandiben Patel, which the latter accepted.

In the 2013 assembly polls, the BJP had won 49, the Congress 39, while one seat each was bagged by the BSP and an independent.

The margin of votes secured by the BJP (41.04 %) and Congress (40.29 %) was less than one per cent.

Of the 90 assembly segments, 51 are for general category and 10 segments are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 29 for Scheduled Tribes.