Chhattisgarh: Local bodies elections
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Urban civic bodies
The Times of India Jan 01 2016
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Within days of the saffron juggernaut stopping in Madhya Pradesh civic polls owing to a resurgent Congress, BJP suffered a huge jolt in adjoining Chhattisgarh where Congress bagged seven out of 11 urban civic bodies.
The results were particularly embarrass ing for BJP as urban areas form the party's core support base. The civic elections were held on December 28. Congress also retained the crucial mayoral post in Bhilai Municipal Corporation. In MP civic body polls, Congress had wrested five of the eight urban civic body seats.
The polls were held in one municipal corporation, four municipal councils and six nagar panchayats. Of six nagar panchayat s, BJP and Congress won three each with the ruling party losing control over two it earlier held.
The biggest setback for BJP was in Bhilai, where it failed to wrest control of the 70 wards from Congress, which retained the mayoral post with its 27-year-old candidate Devendra Yadav inflicting a heavy defeat on his BJP rival Vidya Ratan Bhasin.
2019, Urban body polls: Cong ahead
Dec 24, 2019: The The Times Of India
RAIPUR: The ruling Congress won 923 wards in 151 urban local bodies in Chhattisgarh, while the BJP managed to get 814 wards, a poll official said.
The polls were held on December 21 and results of 2,032 wards were declared, while counting was underway in the remaining 799 wards, the official said.
Of the 2032, the Congress won 923, the BJP 814, the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) of Ajit Jogi 17, while Independents were elected in 278 wards, the official said. The polls were held in 10 municipal corporations, 38 municipal councils and 103 nagar panchayat.
"In six wards, corporators were elected unopposed, while three wards received no nominations. In two places, all nominations were withdrawn and in one place polls were postponed after the death of a candidate,", the official informed.
Following these developments, polling was held to elect corporators in 2831 wards, he added.
Of the 70 wards in Raipur Municipal Corporation, the BJP has so far won 23, the Congress 22 with Independents emerging winners in two wards.
As per the new rules, mayors and chairpersons of urban bodies will be elected by corporators and not directly by people.
"The results show the Congress has registered victory in more wards than the BJP, and we are comfortably leading in several others. Congress will have the maximum number of mayors and chairpersons in the state's urban bodies," said Chhattisgarh Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi.
However, state BJP chief Vikram Usendi said results were an indication that the Bhupesh Baghel government had become unpopular in just one year.
Cong wins 7/10 civic bodies, BJP 1
Dec 26, 2019 The Times of India
Congress has won seven of the 10 municipal corporations in Chhattisgarh, keeping up the momentum gained from victories in the Dantewada and Chitrakot assembly bypolls in the last three months.
BJP — which had held complete sway for 15 years — ended up winning only one civic corporation. Congress won 1,283 wards while BJP bagged 1,131. As many as 364 Independents won, and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) got only six.
In the last civic body polls held in 2015, Congress had won six municipal corporations. The seven corporations where Congress will form boards this time are Raipur, Durg, Ambikapur, Jagdalpur, Chirmiri, Raigarh and Bilaspur. BJP won Korba. Neither party could get majority in Rajnandgaon and Dhamtari.
Congress, which was out of power in Durg for close to two decades, wrested it from BJP by winning 30 of the 60 seats.
BJP could win only 16 while others bagged 14 seats. In Dhamtari, Congress and BJP are neck and neck with 18 and 17 seats while others won the remaining five. In former CM Raman Singh’s native place of Rajnandgaon, Congress won 22 seats while BJP was a close second with 21. Elsewhere in the state, Congress won 19 of the 39 municipalities while BJP bagged 16.
CM Bhupesh Baghel called it a “historic victory”. “The municipal poll results show that citizens have placed their confidence in the state government,” he said, calling it a “one-sided triumph” for Congress.
BJP national vice-president Raman Singh accused Congress of misuse of power. “BJP put in tremendous effort but had to face defeat”. He alleged Congress deliberately ignored EVMs and went for paper ballot.
2021
Dec 25, 2021: The Times of India
RAIPUR: Nearly four months after a power struggle from within rocked the Congress in Chhattisgarh, the ruling party has registered a thumping victory in elections to 15 urban civic bodies — politically strengthening the position of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and further relegating the main opposition BJP in a state it ruled for 15 years.
In September, CM Bhupesh Baghel looked embattled as rumours of a leadership change gained momentum on the speculation that after Congress won the 2018 elections, there was a formula for midterm change of guard.
While the election results came as a shot in the arm for Baghel, BJP appeared shocked over the drubbing since Congress won all six nagar panchayats, four out of five municipal councils and two of four municipal corporations. Even in the other two corporations, the margin is so narrow that Congress could well rope in independents and ensure it gets the mayor’s post. PCC president Mohan Markam said the ruling party put up an impressive performance across the state, from tribal Bastar in the south to Surguja in the north and the plains. “This victory is a recognition of our government’s policies and programme, and it’s also an indication that people have reposed faith in the government under the leadership of chief minister Baghel,” he said.
BJP acknowledged it’s a sign to look within. “The outcome of the civic polls is definitely a situation that calls for introspection within the party as to what went wrong. But misuse of power by the ruling party was also visible everywhere,” said senior BJP leader and former minister Chandrasekhar Sahu, adding that the party now has to be “more aggressive in raising omissions and commissions of the Congress government”. Since coming to power in a landslide victory in 2018, Congress has won three assembly byelections.
