Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh led the BJP to victory for the third time in the state in the 2013 Assembly polls after a close contest that saw several seats changing hands between the BJP and Congress several times before the former managed to cross the half-way mark.
BJP won 49 seats, the Congress was able to bag 39 while the BSP and an independent managed to get 1 seat each in the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls.
BJP today scored a hat-trick of wins in Assembly elections winning 46 of 90 seats, thwarting Congress' bid to wrest power after a decade. The saffron party is ahead in another three seats, while Congress has pocketed 39 and is leading in none. Bahujan Samaj Party and an Independent have won a seat each.
Raman Singh won from Rajnandgaon constituency by defeating Congress's Alka Uday Mudliyar, wife of Congress leader Uday Mudliar killed in Naxal attack in Darbha valley in May 2013, by a huge margin of 35,866 votes.
After registering the slender win, Singh thanked the people for the victory and described the day as 'historic'. "It is a historic day and I thank people of the state for BJP's hat-trick," Singh said.
Singh said people voted for his pro-development work and welfare measures. He rode on pro-incumbency factor and the Congress that had lost most of its big leaders in the May Naxal attack in Darbha.
BJP leader Labh Chand Bafna defeated the Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ravindra Choubey from Saja. Choubey had been contesting from Saja Assembly constituency and had been representing it since 1990 when Chhattisgarh was a part of Madhya Pradesh.
Interestingly, in the electoral history of Chhattisgarh that came into being 13 years ago, the Leader of the Opposition has never won the state polls.
BJP leader Shivratan Sharma defeated Congress's Chaitram Sahu from Bhatapara by 12,340 votes. Till now the party of the candidate winning Bhatapara Assembly constituency has not come to power.
The Congress, which was expecting to garner sympathetic votes owing to the massacre of its leaders on May 25, 2013 by the Naxals, could hardly generate support despite the brutal bloodbath. The contentious matter for the voters remained price rise than the lethality of Naxal bullets.
(With additional inputs from PTI)
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