Congress’ Bhupesh Baghel Sworn In As Chhattisgarh CM

Bhupesh Baghel took oath as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh on Monday, 17 December. The venue of the oath-taking ceremony was changed from Science College ground to Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium in Raipur, due to continuous rainfall.

Tamradhwaj Sahu and TS Singh Deo were sworn in as ministers.

Baghel was appointed as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh on Sunday, 16 December. The party has not appointed any deputy chief minister for the state.

The Congress won a two-thirds majority in Chhattisgarh, bagging 68 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came second with only 15 seats, and Mayawati-Ajit Jogi’s JCC+ alliance managed to win in 7 constituencies.

A total of 76.35 percent of the over 1.85 crore electors cast their votes in the two phases of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. The figure is slightly less as compared to the last elections in 2013, when 77.40 percent of the voters had exercised their franchise.

Polling concluded in the second phase of the state elections for 72 seats on Tuesday, 20 November, with 76.34 percent voter turnout being recorded.

For the first phase, the voter turnout was 76.39 percent.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking a fourth straight term in office, the Congress is aiming to stage a comeback after being out of power for 15 years.

"Counting for all 90 seats would start at 8 am at the 27 district headquarters. All preparations have been completed and a three-layer security has been arranged at each counting centre," an election official told PTI.

As many as 5,184 counting personnel and 1,500 micro- observers have been appointed for smooth conduct of the process, he said.

In every counting hall, 14 tables will be arranged in rows of seven tables each, apart from separate tables for the returning officer and for counting of postal ballots, he said.

The fate of 1,079 contestants, including Chief Minister Raman Singh, his 11 ministers and state presidents of the BJP and the Congress will be decided on Tuesday.

Of the 90 Assembly segments, 51 are for general category while 10 segments are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 29 for Scheduled Tribes.

Visuals from outside a counting centre in Raipur. Counting of votes will start at 8 am throughout the state.

The counting of postal ballots will begin at 8 am and half-an-hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting votes from the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) begins.

The counting of votes for all the 90 seats in Chhattisgarh has begun. The counting starts with postal ballots and half an hour after the postal ballots are counted, the counting from EVMs begins.

The Indian National Congress opened the account in Chhattisgarh, bagging the first seat.

Current trends:

• INC - 1
• BJP - 0
• JCC+ - 0
• Others - 0

The trends at 8:45 am show Congress leading in three seats, with the Ajit Jogi-BSP alliance right behind, leading in two seats. The BJP is leading in only one seat, as per the trends.

The trends at 9:15 show BJP ahead in eight seats. The Congress is right behind with a lead in six seats. The BSP-Ajit Jogi alliance is ahead in two constituencies.

Chattisgarh Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh is trailing from in his constituency Rajnandgaon, behind Congress’s Karuna Shukla, who is also the niece of former Prime Minsiter Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

After being behind the BJP for some time, the Congress has jumped back into the lead. The BJP is leading in 15 seats while the Mayawati-Jogi alliance is leading in only two seats.

As per the current trends, the Congress is looking strong, with the part leading in the important constituencies of Bilaspur and Raipur.

Bilaspur has been a bellwether constituency for the past few elections, meaning it has a history of electing the winner.

According to latest trends, former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, is trailing at third position in Marwahi constituency. BJP is leading Marwahi while the Congress is at second.

Jogi’s party, in alliance with Mayawati’s BSP, is coming at third overall, with a lead in only four constituencies.

The Congress reached the halfway mark in Chhattisgarh as it extended its lead to 46 seats, ahead of the BJP, which has a lead in 24 constituencies.

The JCC+ alliance is still at 2 seats, while others are leading in eight seats.

With trends indicating a win for the Congress in Chhattisgarh, former chief minister Ajit Jogi said on Tuesday that he was "happy" with the "results" and that people chose the party because they found it the most viable alternative to the BJP.

The Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) president told reporters that the people of the state wanted to oust the Raman Singh-led government, which has been in office for 15 years.

Jogi, who was in the Congress before he floated his own party, said the assembly results would help his party emerge as a third front in the state.

Trends showed that the Congress was leading in more than 55 seats in the 90-member state assembly, with the BJP falling way behind with leads in 25 seats.

Former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, after trailing for some time initially, has finally taken lead over his opponent in the Marwahi Constituency, Archana Porte who is contesting from BJP.

The former CM has developed a lead of more than 10,000 votes.

Five ministers in the Raman Singh-led BJP government in Chhattisgarh were trailing in the Assembly polls as per latest trends, a poll official said.

However, state presidents of the BJP and the Congress - Dharamlal Kaushik and Bhupesh Baghel -were leading from Bilha and Patan seats respectively.

Leader of Opposition TS Singh Deo and Congress MP from Durg Lok Sabha seat Tamradhwaj Sau were leading in Ambikapur and Durg Rural seats, respectively.

Congress leader Vikram Mandavi is leading the Bellwether seat of Bijapur with 6,700 votes. BJP’s Mahesh Gagda is in the second spot.

Congress workers celebrated in Raipur as the trends showed the party leading in the state.

Congress is ahead of both the BJP and JCC+.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh took the lead over Congress nominee and former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla in Rajnandgaon Assembly seat. As per the trends, the CM is leading by 1,200 votes over Shukla.

Ajit Jogi’s wife Renu Jogi is leading in the Kota constituency by around 5,200 votes.

“People of Chhattisgarh took the fight in their own hands. We are grateful to Rahul Gandhi, we fought for the people. We got more seats than expected, high command will decide who will be CM,” said Chhattisgarh Congress President Bhupesh Baghel at Congress office in Raipur, reports news agency ANI.

"We were not expecting such a big blessing from the people. We were expecting around 60 seats," Baghel told PTI. The Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee chief, who is seen as one of the contenders for the chief minister's post along with T S Singhdeo, said it was for the high command to decide who would be chief minister.

"The high command will take a decision on this. The responsibility that was given to me, I have fulfilled that," he said.

"We strengthened the Congress organisation at the basic level under Rahul Gandhi's leadership and through that we fought the battle for the common man," Baghel added.

The party, he asserted, fought for farmers, unemployed youth, women, tribals and traders and won their confidence.

In a statement released by Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray, he said “Rather than getting into frivolous things like "Who is the alternative?" voters of four states have shown the courage and I congratulate their courage.

"These voters have risen above questions like money power, muscle power, EVMs and most importantly who is the alternative. They have thrown away what they did not want. The courage of these voters have shown direction to the country. We will see whatever happens in the future.”

Addressing the media, outgoing Chief Minister Raman Singh said he has tendered his resignation to the governor.

“I take the responsibility for this defeat because the poll was contested under my leadership. We will act as a strong Opposition and work for the development of the state. We respect the mandate that the public has given. I congratulate Congress on this success. I consider it my luck to serve the public of Chhattisgarh for the last 15 years,” Singh said.

Speaking to the media, Chhattisgarh Congress President Bhupesh Baghel said "This is a victory of democracy. BJP had a lot of money & a team of corrupt officers, they also had conspirators in their pocket. Despite all of this, the mandate given by the people in Chhattisgarh is historic.

Party leader PL Punia said "We humbly accept the mandate by the people. They have not given us the right, they have given us a responsibility. They believed the promises we made in our manifesto. People trusted the words of Rahul Gandhi ji&gave us an agenda, we accept it."

The NOTA (none of the above) option appeared to have outperformed several political parties, including the AAP and Samajwadi Party, which contested the Assembly polls in the five states.

According to the Election Commission's website at 5:45 pm on Tuesday, the NOTA votes ranged as high as 2.1 percent in Chhattisgarh to 0.5 percent in Mizoram, reported PTI.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which fielded its candidates on 85 out of 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, got 0.9 percent of votes while NOTA votes were 2.1 percent of the counted votes in the state.

Similarly, Samajwadi Party and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) got 0.2 percent and 0.2 percent votes respectively in Chhattisgarh.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) got 0.4 percent votes in the state.

The Congress party has named senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge as the observer for Chhattisgarh, reported news agency ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated the Congress, TRS and MNF on victories in respective states.

In a series of tweets, he thanked the people of Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and applauded BJP workers.

Chhattisgarh Governor Anandiben Patel has accepted the resignation of outgoing Chief Minister Raman Singh.

Counting for the last seat in Chhattisgarh, where Congress is in the lead for now is underway, according to official Election Commission of India data.

Congress has secured 67 seats in the state, indicating at the party forming a government after 15 years of Raman Singh-led rule in the Naxal-affected state.

Counting of votes in Chhattisgarh was wrapped up on Wednesday, 12 December. The Congress emerged as the undisputed winner, bagging 68 seats - way ahead of the 46 seats required to form government in the state.

The ruling BJP managed to get only 15 seats while the Mayawat-Ajit Jogi alliance managed to win only 7 seats.

The Congress in Chhattisgarh will hold its legislature party meeting in Raipur on Wednesday to decide on the next chief minister of the state.

The Congress registered a landslide victory in the Chhattisgarh polls, bringing an end to the Raman Singh-led BJP government's 15-year rule. Congress won 68 seats in the 90-member Assembly, while the BJP got only 15.

The chief minister is likely to be announced after the meeting.

The Congress got 43 percent of the total votes polled in the state, while the BJP got 33 percent.

Sources in the Congress party suggest that state party President Bhupesh Baghel and Vice President TS Singh Deo are front runners in the bid to become the new chief minister of the state.

Baghel bagged the Patan seat by a margin of 27,477 votes while Deo emrged victorious on the Ambikapur seat by a margin of 39,624 votes.

Most of the Assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh where women voters outnumbered men have been won by the Congress, the Election Commission data shows.

In 22 of the 90 Assembly seats in the state, the number of women voters was higher than male voters.

The Congress, which secured the mandate by winning 68 seats and ended the BJP's reign, won 19 of the women voter-majority constituencies.

However, among the newly-elected MLAs from these 22 seats, only three are women -- Dr Lakshmi Dhruv from Sihawa seat, Chhanni Chandu Sahu from Khujji and Anila Bhendia from Dondilohara.

Former chief minister Ajit Jogi won from Marwahi which has 93,542 women voters against 90,323 male voters.

The other constituencies where women voters outnumber men are Pathalgaon, Dharmajaigarh, Khallari, Kawardha, Mahasamund, Bindrawangarh, Sihawa, Khujji, Mohla-Manpur, Kanker, Bhanupratappur, Keshkal, Narayanpur, Chitrakot, Dantewada, Jagdalpur, Bastar, Konta, Bijapur, Kondagaon and Dondilohara.

Except Marwahi, Bindrawangarh and Dantewada, the rest were won by Congress. Bindrawangarh and Dantewada seats went to the BJP.

Congress’ observer for Chhattisgarh has reached Raipur to attend the legislature party meeting. The name of chief minister is expected to be announced after the meeting.

“We'll take the consensus of all MLAs and senior leaders & then the High Command will take a decision on CM and we will go according to that procedure. There's no confusion,our people are united," Kharge said.

“It has been unanimously decided that the head of the CLP leaders will be decided by Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi had said that even if a resolution is passed unanimously, every MLA should be talked to & their opinions have to be considered,” he added.

"The process of electing the Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan is presently ongoing. Congress party believes in the democratic process of knowing the view point of each elected legislator," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

Senior leaders AK Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal along with general secretary in charges have gone to their respective states. After consulting everybody we will give a CM candidate and a governmentt that truly reflects will of people of these 3 states.We'll start process of loan waiver, process of creating new employment opportunities and reconstruction of these states in accordance with people's will," he added.

Amid hectic lobbying for the post of chief minister in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has asked the party workers to tell their top choice for the chief minister post in each of the three states, party sources said.

Using an internal messaging platform for the party workers, Gandhi sent out to them a pre-recorded audio message seeking their feedback for selection of the chief minister in their respective states, the sources said.

Despite repeated attempts, the party spokespersons did not comment on the message and its content. The exact time when the the message was sent could not be ascertained.

Sources, however, said the message has been sent to a large number of party workers in the states that went to polls.

With more than one name doing the rounds for each of the three states where the Congress has secured numbers to form the government, Gandhi said in his message the party workers' choice would reach him directly and would not be known to anyone else.

A senior MLA in one of the three states also confirmed having received the pre-recorded message through the ShaktiApp used by the Congress chief for communicating with the party workers. The MLA said he recorded his choice for the chief minister post in a direct message to the party chief through the application.

All India Congress Committee's observer for Chhattisgarh, Mallikarjun Kharge said that all the MLAs in the state have unanimously authorised AICC President Rahul Gandhi to select a Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader for Chhattisgarh.

Amid speculations on who might be picked as the chief minister, supporters of two contenders Bhupesh Baghel and TS Singh Deo got involved in an altercation.

News agency ANI reports CM post front runners TS Singh Deo and Bhupesh Baghel have been called to Delhi on Friday morning. Senior leader Charandas Mahant is also slated to arrive at the capital.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has deferred the decisions on chief ministers of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh for Friday as he wants to hold further discussions with party leaders, Congress sources said.

Gandhi held discussions with party leaders on Thursday to decide on the new chief minister for the state, the party sources said, but postponed the decision to Friday for holding wider discussions with the contenders.

AICC in-charge of party affairs in Chhattisgarh P L Punia was also present during the meeting with Gandhi.

"The meeting has been postponed for tomorrow. There will be a meeting again tomorrow," Kharge told reporters after meeting Gandhi on Thursday.

The sources said TS Singh Deo and Bhupesh Baghel have also been called to the national capital from Raipur for discussions with top party leaders.

Chhattisgarh Congress president Bhupesh Bhagel, on Friday said that the decision to appoint the next CM for the state will be taken by the Congress High Command, adding that he is willing to take up any responsibility that the leadership gives him.

Chhattisgarh CM hopeful Bhupesh Bhagel said that he will return smiling from Delhi, as he departed from Chhattisgarh for a meeting with the Congress leadership for the appointment of a new Chief Minister for the state. His tweet has had people beliecve that he might be the next chief minister of the naxal-affected state.

Chhattisgarh CM hopefuls TS Singh Deo and Bhupesh Bhagel landed in Delhi ahead of the appointment of a new chief minister for Chhattisgarh.

TS Singh Deo said that he want the Congress to deliver the priorities it has set for Chhattisgarh as soon as possible.

Bhupesh Bhagel, repeated his words from earlier in the day, saying that the MLAs have given the authority to the high command to decide the name of the next chief minister.

The decision on the new chief minister seems to have been postponed by another day. Quoting a release by the state unit of Congress, Indian Express reported the four CM contenders — T S Singh Deo, Bhupesh Baghel, Tamradhwaj Sahu and Charan Das Mahant — along with the party’s central observer Mallikarjun Kharge will arrive in Raipur tomorrow to hold a meeting with the other MLAs following which the official announcement will be made.

The four aspirants had met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in the national capital earlier in the day.

The Congress is likely to announce the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh on Saturday with the contenders to the post – state party chief Bhupesh Baghel and Ambikarpur MLA TS Singh Deo – meeting party President Rahul Gandhi in the national capital on Friday.

"We had a meeting with Gandhi over the issue and a decision on who will be the Chief Minister will be taken on Saturday," Deo told IANS after the meeting.

The newly-elected MLAs are expected to meet in Raipur at 10 am on Saturday, ahead of the official announcement, reported The Indian Express.

“We have more than one eligible name, which is why the process is taking time. In any case, the final result came late on the 11th so it has just been four days today,” said TS Singh Deo of the Congress party on Saturday, 15 December, referring to the delay in announcing the name of the new CM of Chhattisgarh.

He further added that the BJP, which had taken more than seven-eight days to appoint its recent CMs should not comment on the Congress.

The observer for Chhattisgarh, Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Chhattisgarh in-Charge PL Punia have reached Rahul Gandhi's residence, reported The Indian Express. The final name for the post of CM is expected to be announced today.

As anticipation for the announcement of the Chhattisgarh CM builds, Sonia Gandhi and senior Congress leaders contending for the post of CM have also reached Rahul Gandhi’s residence, reported The Indian Express.

The meeting at Rahul Gandhi’s residence has ended, but no clarity on the CM has been achieved. The leaders are now scheduled to fly to Raipur, where the Congress is scheduled to hold its legislature party meeting later in the day. A decision is likely to be announced then, reported NDTV.

Chhattisgarh Congress state in-charge PL Punia has said the name of the next chief minister will be announced on Sunday, 16 December, after a meeting which is scheduled to be held at 12 pm.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi hinted at the end of tussle for the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, tweeting a picture of himself flanked by all the four claimants to the post.

Posting pictures of the four contenders in the race for the CM post — Bhupesh Baghel, TS Singh Deo, Tamradhwaj Sahu and Charan Das Mahant — Gandhi quoted American internet entrepreneur Reid Hoffman saying: "No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose out to a team."

CM hopeful Bhupesh Baghel arrived back to Raipur from Delhi after his meeting with Congress leaders. On landing in Raipur, he said that the announcement will be made at the Congress Legislature Party meeting later in the day.

Congress leader and other chief minster hopeful TS Singh Deo also returned from Delhi on Sunday, after a meeting with the Congress leadership on the appointment of the next Chhattisgarh chief minister.

Congress has chosen Bhupesh Baghel as the new chief minister of Chhattisgarh. The party announced that Baghel will take oath as the chief minister on Monday, 17 December 2018 at 5pm in Raipur. There will be no deputy CM in the state.

Mallikarjun Kharge, the observer for the state, said that the decision on the rest of the cabinet will be made soon.

Baghel was the president of the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee and is an MLA from Patan constituency.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister designate Bhupesh Baghel, after meeting the governor upon his appointment as the chief minister, has said that a decision on the cabinet and a deputy chief minister will be taken after his oath-taking ceremony on Monday, 17 December.

Baghel also touched upon the issue of Naxalism in the state. He said that the situation can be improved with the citizen’s help.

The venue of CM designate Bhupesh Baghel's oath taking ceremony has been changed from Science College ground to Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium in Raipur, due to continuous rainfall.

Congress’ Bhupesh Baghel will soon take oath as the new Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. Dignitaries have started to pour in at Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium for the swearing-in ceremony.

Bhupesh Baghel took oath as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh on Monday, 17 December. Earlier, the venue of the oath-taking ceremony had been changed from Science College ground to Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium in Raipur, due to continuous rainfall.

Congress MLAs Tamradhwaj Sahu and TS Singh Deo were sworn in as cabinet ministers. Both Sahu and Deo were CM contenders.

Newly appointed Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that his government has decided to waive farm loans, reported news agency ANI.

“Congress President Rahul Gandhi had announced that farm loans will be waived within 10 days and that Minimum Support Price (MSP) for maize will be increased to Rs 2500 from Rs 1700 per quintal. These two decisions have been taken today,” he said.

Bhupesh Baghel said that the government has decided to set up a SIT in the Jhiram Ghati massacre where 29 people including top Congress leaders were killed, reported news agency ANI.

“Total 29 people including prominent leaders like Nand Kumar Patel were killed. Conspirators haven't been exposed. No such massacre of politicians ever took place in history. To nab the culprits, a SIT has been formed,” Baghel said while announcing the decision.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday announced that his government will waive short-term agricultural loans of farmers, fulfilling a promise made by the Congress ahead of the just concluded state assembly polls.

“Congress President Rahul Gandhi had announced that farm loans will be waived within 10 days and that Minimum Support Price (MSP) for maize will be increased to Rs 2500 from Rs 1700 per quintal. These two decisions have been taken today,” Baghel said at a rally.