Congress is going to lose in Chhattisgarh: BJP's Arun Sao

BILASPUR: As the counting of votes progresses, BJP chief in Chhattisgarh, Arun Sao claimed that the people of the state have already rejected the Congress party.

"The Congress party is scared and nervous. Whenever Congress is about to lose or lose, it blames the EVMs and sometimes it blames the Constitution. Congress party is going to lose the elections. The people of Chhattisgarh have rejected them," he said.

MP Arun Sao is seeking mandate from the Lormi assembly constituency against Congress' Thaneshwar Sahu.

The halfway mark for the 90-member assembly of Chhattisgarh is 46. The counting of votes at designated centres began at 8 am.

The polling in the state was held in two phases.

The first phase was held in 20 constituencies on November 7 with 223 candidates in the contest while the polling in the remaining constituencies with 958 candidates were held in the second phase on November 17.

A total of 1,181 candidates contested seeking a mandate to the 90-member assembly.

In Chhattisgarh, exit polls gave Congress a clear edge, showing that the ruling party in the state is poised to return to power with the BJP also expected to put up a good contest unlike in the 2018 polls.

In 2018, the Congress won 68 seats in Chhattisgarh and the BJP won 15 seats. Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) won five seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party won two seats. (ANI)