JOIN USThe BJP maintained a lead in10 out of total 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh while the Congress was leading only in Bastar (ST) constituency, as per the trends available so far.
In Durg seat, BJP's Vijay Baghel is ahead of Congress nominee Pratima Chandrakar by 1,85,455 votes. In Rajnandgaon seat, BJP's Santosh Pandey is leading over Congress rival Bholaram Sahu by 88,389 votes. In Raigarh (ST) seat, BJP's Gomtee Sai was leading over Congress nominee Laljeet Singh Rathiya by 65,073 votes.
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In Surguja (ST) seat, BJP's Renuka Singh is ahead of Congress' Khelsai Singh by 1,12,287 votes. In Janjgir-Champa (SC) seat, BJP's Guharam Ajgalley is leading over Congress rival Ravi Bhardwaj by 48,666 votes. In Korba, Congress' Jyotsana Mahant, wife of state Assembly Speaker Charandas Mahant, is trailing by 7,470 votes against BJP's Jyotinand Dubey.
In Kanker (ST) seat, BJP's Mohan Mandavi is ahead of Congress Biresh Thakur by 13,285 votes while in Bilaspur, BJP's Arun Sao is leading by 72,179 votes against Congress' Atal Shrivastav. In Mahasamund seat, BJP's Chunnilal Sahu, who was initially trailing, has now taken a lead over Congress' Dhanendra Sahu by 18,286 votes.
Counting of votes for all 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh began at 27 centres, one each at every district headquarters, at 8 am on Thursday.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made at the counting centres, particularly those in Naxal-hit areas, state Chief Electoral Officer Subrat Sahoo told. The postal ballots were being counted first, followed by the electronic voting machines (EVMs), he said.
The state recorded 71.48 per cent voter turnout in the 11 Lok Sabha seats where voting was held in three phases on April 11, 18 and 23. Total 166 candidates, including three sitting Congress MLAs, wife of the incumbent Assembly speaker, and state BJP vice-president, contested the polls in the state.
In the last three Lok Sabha polls since 2004, the BJP won 10 out of 11 seats in the state.
State Congress spokesman Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said his party has deployed members of its legal cell at all the counting centres to keep a tab on any "mischievous activity".
Of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, four are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and one for Scheduled Caste candidates.