Chhattisgarh Election Results: As BJP surges, a look at what went so wrong for Congress

The BJP jumped into pole position in Chhattisgarh after early trends favoured the Congress. According to the latest trends from the Election Commission of India, the BJP is leading in 54 seats, while the Congress has the edge in 35 seats. The magic number for the 90-member Assembly of Chhattisgarh is 46. While Congress’ Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is leading in Patan by 5,598 votes against BJP candidate and his distant nephew Vijay Baghel, the others in his government are not faring so well. Deputy chief minister TS Singh Deo faces an uphill battle against the BJP’s Rajesh Agrawal by 5,106 votes in Ambikapur, while home minister Tamradhwad Sahu is behind the BJP’s Lalit Chandrakar by 8,941 votes in Durg Rural. In Chitrakot, state Congress chief Deepak Baij trailed BJP’s Vinayak Goyal by 3866 votes. But what went wrong for the Congress in Chhattisgarh? Let’s take a closer look: BJP’s wooing of farmers, poll promises The Congress in 2018 defeated the then Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh. As per The Wire, the unhappiness among paddy farmers was thought to be a key reason why the BJP’s footprint was reduced to just 15 seats in 2018. The piece noted that while the BJP has focused on government corruption this time, it has also reached out to farmers. It stated that the BJP in its poll manifesto vowed to procure paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal (21 quintal per acre) – Rs 500 more than the Congress government. It further vowed to fulfill the pending paddy procurement bonus at Rs 300 per quintal by 25 December.

A strong, sustained and aggressive campaign and its matching Congress in poll promises seem to worked for the BJP.

Corruption charges, anti-incumbency The BJP, all through its high-voltage campaign in the state targeted the Congress government led by Baghel on alleged scams, corruption and the ‘hawala money funding’ related to the Mahadev app. During the aggressive campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted Baghel. [caption id=“attachment_13457722” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel. Photo- PTI[/caption] “I have some questions for the Congress leaders who are fond of teaching mathematics…I want to ask some questions about the party. The ‘Mahadev betting app scam’ is worth Rs 508 crore and the investigating agencies have recovered loads of cash in this case. A close aide of the Chhattisgarh CM is also in jail,” Modi had said during the election rally in Chhattisgarh’s Mungeli. “Congress should reveal how much money the CM received in this. How much money have the other leaders of the party received and how much money has reached Delhi?” he added. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which is investigating the Mahadev Book Online Betting APP syndicate, claimed earlier that by questioning Asim Das, an arrested cash courier from the UAE, and the forensic examination of the phone recovered from him, and examination of an email sent by one of the high-ranking accused of Mahadev network, many startling facts came to light. The agency claimed that regular payments were made in the past and, so far, about Rs 508 crore has been paid by the promoters of the Mahadev betting app to Baghel. The source of these alleged payments is under investigation, they added. Anti-incumbency may have played a role in dislodging the Baghel government. Chhattisgarh BJP chief Arun Sao told Hindustan Times, “In the last five years, Congress has destroyed Chhattisgarh. People of Chhattisgarh know that only the BJP can protect the state, and that’s why they will give their blessings to us,” Senior BJP leader Raman Singh told reporters in Raipur that the people had rejected Baghel. “Bhupesh Baghel has been rejected by Chhattisgarh. Bhupesh Baghel’s corruption, liquor scam, Mahadev app scam contributed to this results," Singh told NDTV. Modi magic Singh, echoing his party colleagues, said the people had demonstrated their faith in Modi’s work and guarantees. “The people believed in Modiji’s guarantee, that’s what the trends show. We could see the undercurrent, didn’t know it would be this huge,” Singh added.

VIDEO | Chhattisgarh elections 2023: "People know that their (Congress') guarantees are fake, they know that Bhupesh Baghel didn't fulfill his promises, and that's why they believe in PM Modi's guarantees," says former CM and BJP leader @drramansingh as trends show BJP leading in… pic.twitter.com/ALGaWu3EPY

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 3, 2023

“The way we are moving towards a huge majority in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, it is clear that the people trust Modi’s guarantee and has rejected the Congress’ gimmicks (nautanki). Modi magic is the real magic and every other magician has failed,” said BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla. [caption id=“attachment_13432882” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a star campaigner in the state. PTI[/caption] “People have blessed BJP in three states… endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and rejected the Congress’ false promises,” Union minister Pralhad Joshi said as counting day progressed and celebrations broke out in BJP quarters in several places. The polling in the state was held in two phases. The first phase was held in 20 constituencies on November 7 with 223 candidates in the contest while the polling in the remaining constituencies with 958 candidates were held in the second phase on November 17. The voter turnout for both phases combined was 76.31 per cent, slightly lower than the 2018 polls. In the first phase, 78 per cent of voter turnout was recorded and in the second phase, it was 75.88 per cent. The four main contenders in the Chhattisgarh Elections 2023 are the BJP, Congress, Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Other regional outfits like the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), Hamar Raj Party (HRP) and the Left parties are also in the contest. The elections, which set the momentum for the 2024 polls, have seen the BJP and the Congress go head to head in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Telangana was a direct contest between the Congress and the K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) that was hoping for a hat-trick. While many Congress workers still held out hope that the party would retain power in Chhattisgarh, the task looked increasingly difficult. Counting began at 8 am on Sunday amid tight security and huge anticipation in the four states. Votes in the fifth state that went to the polls, Mizoram, will be counted on Monday. A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place and only people holding valid passes will be allowed to enter the counting centres, election officials said. With inputs from agencies