Chhattisgarh heading for close finish

Chhattisgarh was heading for a close finish Sunday with the opposition Congress giving a tough fight to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.

At 11 a.m. (as per official statistics), the BJP was ahead in 38 constituencies against the Congress' tally of 36 in trends available for 75 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was leading on one seat.

On vote share terms, the Congress was slightly behind its main rival with 40.95 percent votes against the BJP's 41.03 percent.

The Congress and the BJP were in a neck and neck race in the trends after the first 3-4 rounds of counting. The half-way mark for the assembly is 45 seats.

In the Maoist-affected region of south Chhattisgarh, including the Bastar belt, the BJP was losing its hold to the Congress.

Chief Minister Raman Singh was leading his Congress rival Alka Uday Mudliyar from his Rajnandgaon assembly seat by over 4,000 votes.

In Durg city constituency, Congress candidate Arun Vora, the son of senior Congress leader Moti Lal Vora, was leading his BJP rival by over 2,500 votes.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Ajit Jogi's wife Renu Jogi and son Amit Jogi were also leading in their Kota and Marwahi constituencies respectively.

The BJP had 50 seats against the 38 seats of the Congress in the outgoing assembly.