BJP eyes victory in Chhattisgarh civic polls

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expecting a sweeping victory in the civic body elections for the 154 bodies in Chhattisgarh.

The counting of votes, including nine municipal corporations, 26 Municipal Councils and 119 Nagar Panchayats in Chhattisgarh began at 9 am today. Since ballot papers were used for polling, the pace of counting of votes was slow.

Sources in the election office said that the final results would be out by late Sunday night. However, the trends and results available till evening indicated that the ruling BJP was heading for a sweeping victory in the urban body elections in the state.

The results for all the 119 Nagar Panchayats were out, though, the election commission was yet to make the official announcement. Of the 119 Nagar Panchayats, BJP had bagged 53 seats while Congress won in 33 while 33 seats went to others.

In the Muncipal Councils, BJP was leading in 12 seats while Congress candidates had taken lead over their ruling party rivals in nine seats. The Independent candidates were leading at five places.

Sources said that of the nine Municipal Corporations, BJP had bagged three seats including Jagdalpur. The ruling party was leading in three while trailing in remaining three seats.

The civic body polls in the state were held in two phases on December 21 and 23 to decide the fate of 12,307 candidates. An estimated 66.85 per cent of the 32,16,616 voters exercised their franchise.