RAIPUR:The rulling Congress secured majority in five out of the ten municipal corporations with the party getting an edge over the opposition BJP winning 1283 corporator posts out of 2840 in the 151 urban bodies in the state.
BJP gave a tough fight and registered its comeback after the humiliating defeat in the 2018 Assembly polls. In the remaining municipal corporations the contest were evenly poised between the two national parties. The independents are for the first time going to play a crucial role in over two dozen civic body seats.
Both the Congress and BJP have begun negotiations with the independents. The Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J), the regional outfit floated by the former chief minister Ajit Jogi in June 2016, could manage to win only 36 seats in the state. As many 364 independents across the state have emerged victorious.
The elections were held in 151 urban local bodies, including 10 municipal corporations, 38 municipal councils and 103 nagar panchayats. The voter turnout of 78.73 percent was recorded in the polls held on December 21.
The Congress got majority in municipal corporations at Durg, Chirmiri, Jagdalpur, Ambikapur and Raigarh, though ruling party hopes to have its own mayor in at least 7 out of the ten corporations.
In closely contested Raipur municipal corporation, the Congress won 34 of the 70 wards while BJP got 29. There are several senior BJP leaders who lost the elections.
The Bhupesh Baghel cabinet had in October this year cleared the proposal on reverting to ballot papers and holding an indirect Mayoral election in the urban local bodies polls. Consequently, the Chhattisgarh Municipalities Act was amended.