Raipur:
After its resounding victories in assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh, the BJP on Saturday won elections to a majority of civic bodies in the state, riding high on welfare schemes and fulfilled promises.
The saffron party won all ten mayor posts in the state, poll officials said.
The performance of the main opposition Congress was lacklustre, but it managed to win the post of chairman in the Kunkuri Nagar Panchayat in Jashpur district, in the assembly constituency of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai.
Elections to 173 urban bodies including 10 municipal corporations, 49 municipal councils and 114 Nagar Panchayats were held on February 11 with a 72.48 per cent turnout.
Counting of votes was held on Saturday.
As per the results, the BJP won mayoral posts in all 10 municipal corporations, captured by Congress in the last elections held in 2019-2020.
Of the chairperson posts in 49 municipal councils, BJP won 35, Congress eight, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) one, while independent candidates grabbed the post in five places.
Similarly, BJP won the chairperson’s post in 81 out of 114 Nagar Panchayats, Congress in 22, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in one and independent candidates in 10.
The BJP also won most of the municipal wards. In Raipur municipal corporation, the ruling party won 60 out of 70 wards while Congress managed to win seven and independent candidates won three.
Notably, chairman of Basna Nagar Panchayat as well as 31 corporators in various civic bodies were elected unopposed, officials said.
In the fight for Raipur mayor’s post, the BJP’s Meenal Choubey secured 3,15,835 votes and defeated Congress’ Dipti Dubey by 1,53,290 votes.
In Rajnandgaon municipal corporation, BJP candidate and former MP Madhusudan Yadav won the post by bagging 62,517 votes, defeating Congress’ Nikhil Dwivedi who received 21,379 votes.
In Ambikapur municipal corporation, BJP’s Manjusha Bhagat (42,836 votes) won the Mayoral post defeating Congress’ Dr Ajay Tirkey (31,773 votes), a two-time mayor.
Congress’ Vinaysheel Gupta won the chairperson post in Kunkuri nagar panchayat (Jashpur district) defeating BJP’s Subdal Ram Yadav by a margin of 81 votes.
On the home turf of Congress leader and former CM Bhupesh Baghel, who represents Patan seat (Durg district), a BJP candidate won the post of chairperson of Patan Nagar Panchayat.
“Today is a historic day for the BJP as well as our government. It will be etched in the political history of Chhattisgarh with golden letters because BJP has registered a landslide victory,” chief minister Sai told reporters here.
“People of Chhattisgarh have shown faith in BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ and development work of the state government for which I express gratitude and congratulate them,” he said.
The promises in the ‘Atal Viswas Patra’, the BJP’s manifesto for the elections, will be fulfilled, he said, adding that unlike the Congress, the saffron party keeps its word.
The Congress government “murdered democracy” last time by introducing indirect election for the mayor, the CM said.
Referring to Aijaz Dhebar, he said the Congress candidate who had then become mayor lost from a ward in Raipur on Saturday.
In Raigarh corporation, BJP’s Jivardhan Chouhan, a tea seller, won the election for mayor, Sai noted.
Chouhan secured 56,311 votes and defeated Congress’ Janki Katju by 34,365 votes.
Asked about the defeat in Kunkuri nagar panchayat for the chairperson post, Sai said, “We honour the mandate, and I assure that development works in the region will not stop.” Taking a jibe at former CM Baghel, Sai said the Congress honoured Baghel by appointing him as a general secretary (on Friday), but the people of his own constituency “thanked him in a different way.” They completely rejected the Congress which lost chairperson’s post in two Nagar Panchayats and one municipal council (in Patan assembly constituency), he added.
State Congress chief Dipak Baij said the outcome was not as per his party’s expectations, but it respects the people’s mandate.
“The Congress fought the elections with full strength and unity. All our senior leaders took part in the campaign. The Congress did not compromise on its principles,” he said.
The BJP misused government machinery, Baji alleged.
There was an attempt to postpone the elections, then the dates were deferred. It was announced earlier that elections would be held with ballot papers, but later it was decided to use Electronic Voting Machines and there was no VVPAT (voter verified paper audit trail), he claimed.
Complaints of EVM malfunctioning were received from more than 100 places, he alleged.
“We are definitely disappointed by the results, but not disheartened. As the main opposition party, we will continue to fight for public issues. Our fight against misgovernance of the BJP will continue,” Baij added.
In the last urban bodies polls held in 2019-2020, elections were held to 151 urban bodies, including 10 municipal corporations, 38 municipal councils and 103 nagar panchayats.
The then ruling Congress had captured mayoral posts in all 10 municipal corporations and chairperson’s post in 28 municipal councils and 58 nagar panchayats.
The BJP had secured chairperson’s post in 10 municipal councils and 35 nagar panchayats last time.
Elections for mayor and chairperson of municipal councils/ nagar panchayats were held in an indirect manner, where the people first elected corporators, who in turn elected the mayor and other presiding officers. The Sai government restored direct elections to these posts.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
