Day after Jharkhand defeat, BJP set to lose urban base in Chhattisgarh

Available trends in local body election show party is underperforming in most municipal corporations, which were once the stronghold of the party

A day after being defeated in the Jharkhand general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to receive another jolt from urban voters in Chhattisgarh.

The available trends in the local body election showed that BJP was underperforming in most of the municipal corporations that were once its stronghold. Ten municipal corporations, 38 municipal councils and 103 Nagar Panchayats went to the polls on December 21. The counting of votes took place on Tuesday.

The final figure would be out by late evening as the counting of votes continued till the filing of this report. The local body election in Chhattisgarh was held with ballot papers instead of electronic voting machine (EVMs). The indication available by evening underlined that the BJP was set to lose its grip in the urban areas. Of the 10 municipal corporations, Congress had a secured comfortable lead in four and was heading in three others. The BJP may end uo bagging only two seats.

The trends showed that both BJP and Congress had got into a close contest in semi-urban areas. In the municipal council, the parties were running neck-and-neck. However, BJP had an edge in rural areas. In most of the Nagar Panchayats, BJP candidates were leading.