Raipur: The ruling BJP was on course to retaining power in Chhattisgarh opening a sizable gap in the race with its main rival Congress.
Needing 46 seats to secure a simple majority in the 90-member state assembly, BJP led in 52 seats pushing to distant second place Congress which was ahead in 33 seats, as per the official website of the state election commission.
Others, including CPI, BSP, NCP, were ahead in four seats.
If the trends are translated into final results, BJP is expected to retain almost the same number of seats --50--it had won in the previous assembly polls in 2003. Congress had won 37 seats last time.
The BJP forged ahead in the race after being initially locked in a neck and neck race with the Congress.
In the 2003 Assembly election, Congress' loss was attributed mainly to the NCP factor which led by Vidyacharan Shukla had secured more than 7 per cent votes.
BJP had secured 39.26 per cent votes while Congress had been the runner up with securing 36.71 per cent votes in the last election.
Shukla is the younger brother of the former Madhya Pradesh chief minster, late Shyamacharan Shukla.
Vidayacharan Shukla, however, returned to the paternal party before this assembly election and NCP, which had already lost much of its sting as an independent force in the state, also tied up with Congress.
Political pundits say that BSP factor has, however, damaged the Congress considerably in a number of seats in the tribal states and much of gains expected by the alliance with NCP were lost due to BSP capturing good number of votes in Congress strongholds.
Comments
0 comment