Chhattisgarh Elections 2023: As the counting of votes is underway in Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, the state witnesses a see-saw battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress. The saffron party has managed to maintain a lead over the Congress as per the Election Commission trends. As per ECI, the BJP is leading on 26 seats and the Congress is ahead on 23 seats.
Counting of votes in elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly started at 8 am on Sunday, with security personnel maintaining a strict vigil in counting centres in the state's 33 districts, including those affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), a poll official said.
The elections were held in two phases on November 7 and 17. Voter turnout stood at 76.31 per cent. Postal ballots were counted between 8 am and 8.30 am, after which the counting of votes through EVMs began in the presence of officials and political parties' authorised agents, he said, as reported by PTI.
According to the Chhattisgarh exit polls, the state is likely to witness a close contest between the Congress and the BJP. The Congress was projected to bag 43.4% of the votes, while the BJP is likely to follow close behind with a 41.2% vote share, according to the ABP-CVoter exit poll survey. The survey findings show that the BJP stands to gain the most in terms of vote share—a rise of 8.2%—since the last election.