As initial trends showed the Congress party gaining the lead in Chhattisgarh on Sunday (December 3rd), some members of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, a Congress party ally, celebrated outside the party office by raising slogans hailing Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and brandishing live fish, claiming that it is considered auspicious.
As seen in a video of the weird celebration, the RJD workers said, “This is a victory of the I.N.D.I. Alliance and we are winning in all the five states and for this auspicious sign, we brought this fish here from Bihar. We are going to win…Bhupesh Baghel Zindabad..I.N.D.I.A gathbandhan zindabad.”
The overjoyed RJD workers were also seen feeding sweets to each other. It is, however, interesting to note that as per the latest trends, the Bhartiya Janata Party has taken a lead over the Congress party. While the BJP is leading on 55 seats, Congress is trailing with 33 seats. In addition, the Communist Party of India is leading on 1 seat, as per the latest information available on the Election Commission’s website. As per current trends, the BJP is set to form the government in Chhattisgarh, contrary to the predictions made by exit polls.
BJP is leading in vote share too with 45.77% votes, against 41.95% vote share of Congress. It has been a direct BJP-Congress contest in Chhattisgarh, with other parties getting insignificant votes.
Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly were conducted in two phases, on November 7 and 17. The first round included 20 constituencies and 223 candidates, while the second phase included 70 constituencies and 958 candidates. 1,181 candidates were running in these elections. The aggregate voter turnout for both rounds was reported at 76.31 per cent, which was a bit lower than the 2018 elections. The first phase saw 78 per cent of voter turnout, while the second phase saw 75.88 per cent.
While the Congress party won 68 out of 90 seats in the 2018 elections, the race this time appears to be more challenging since multiple scams are surfacing in the state, including the Mahadev Betting App scam, PCS scam, liquor scam, NAN scam among others.