Congress is set to return to power in Chhattisgarh after a long wait of 15 years.
The Congress is set to return to power in Chhattisgarh after a long wait of 15 years as they seemed to be heading towards a massive majority in the state. Trends suggest that BJP leader Raman Singh's dream of a consecutive fourth term as Chhattisgarh chief minister will not come true.
At 3 pm, Congress was leading in 65 seats out of 90, while the ruling BJP was a distant second at 16. The Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) of former chief minister Ajit Jogi was ahead in 8 seats.
Raman leads, ministers trail
Chief Minister Raman Singh was trailing from his constituency in early trends and overtook Congress' Karuna Shukla, niece of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, later.
Five ministers in the BJP government - Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur City South), Kedar Kashyap (Narayanpur constituency), Mahesh Gagda (Bijapur), Dayaldas Baghel (Nawagarh) and Amar Agrawal (Bilaspur) - were trailing at this time.
Chhattisgarh Assembly Election Results 2018: Live Blog
However, state presidents of the BJP and the Congress - Dharamlal Kaushik and Bhupesh Baghel - were leading in Bilha and Patan seats respectively.
Leader of Opposition T S Singhdeo and Congress MP from Durg Lok Sabha seat Tamradhwaj Sau were leading in Ambikapur and Durg Rural seats, respectively.
Ajit Jogi was leading in Marwahi seat while his wife Renu Jogi was ahead in Kota constituency, the official said.
Rahul will decide CM, says Baghel
Congress state chief Bhupesh Baghel said that their leader Rahul Gandhi will take the decision on the chief minister face. Bhagel will be the frontrunner for the post.
READ: Chhattisgarh's next CM? One of these 5 could get the post
Counting for all the 90 seats started at 8 am. The counting of postal ballots was first taken up followed by counting of votes from the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The state had recorded 76.60 per cent voter turnout.
Meanwhile, Congress is also giving a tough fight to the BJP in the states of Rajasthan as well as Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile, the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi is leading in the state of Telangana while the Mizo National Front is marching towards victory in Mizoram.
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