Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Vote counting for civic body elections across 173 civic bodies in 33 districts of Chhattisgarh has almost reached its last leg on Saturday evening. BJP is said to maintain a strong lead across 10 municipal corporations in Chhattisgarh.
Marking the return of the saffron party in Raipur after 15 years, BJP’s Meenal Chaubey defeated Congress's Deepti Dubey by more than 1.5 lakh votes.
In Durg, Alka Baghmar from BJP won against Congress candidate Premlata Poshan Sahu with a margin of 67,000 votes.
In Bilaspur, BJP’s Pooja Vidhani secured a big victory over Congress’s Pramod Nayak by 66,179 votes. Similarly, in Korba, BJP candidate Sanju Devi Rajput defeated Congress's Usha Tiwari by 52,000 votes.
Raigarh also saw a strong win for BJP, with Jeevvardhan Chauhan defeating Congress’s Janki Katju by 34,365 votes. In Rajnandgaon, BJP’s Madhusudan Yadav won against Nikhil Dwivedi with a margin of 43,500 votes.
In Ambikapur, BJP’s Manjusha Bhagat defeated Congress’s Dr. Ajay Tirki by 11,063 votes, while in Chirmiri, BJP’s Ramnaresh Rai won against Congress candidate Vinay Jaiswal by 4,000 votes. In Jagdalpur, Sanjay Pandey from BJP defeated Congress’s Malkit Singh Gaidu by 8,772 votes.
Dhamtari also went in BJP’s favor as Jagdish Ramu Mehra won unopposed after the Congress candidate’s nomination was canceled.
BJP Celebrates
As BJP secured victories, celebrations erupted across various cities. In Lormi, Deputy CM Shiv Pratap Singh danced with party workers, while in Raipur, BJP leader Rajesh Munat joined in celebrations with supporters.
Meanwhile, Congress faced a setback in several areas. Former mayor of Raipur, Ejaz Dhebar, lost the councilor election by 1,500 votes. However, in a close contest, Congress’s Reema defeated BJP’s Champa Jaiswal by just 44 votes.
As per the latest updates, BJP is leading in four more municipal corporations. Vote counting continues for 49 municipalities and 113 town councils, where the results will decide the mayors, chairpersons, and councilors.
