BJP sweeps urban body polls in Chhattisgarh , wins all 10 mayor posts
RAIPUR: The ruling BJP on Saturday swept all 10 municipal corporations in Chhattisgarh, following up on its stunning landslide victory in the 2024 assembly elections and 2025 Lok Sabha polls.
Elections to 173 urban bodies — 10 municipal corporations, 49 municipal councils and 114 nagar panchayats — were held on Feb 11. The turnout was recorded at 72.2%. BJP won the municipal corporations of Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Rajnandgaon, Ambikapur, Jagdalpur, Raigarh, Korba, Dhamtari and Chirmiri.
According to the state election commission, BJP had won all 10 mayoral posts, 35 municipal councils and 81 nagar panchayat presidents by Saturday evening.
In the previous urban body polls held in 2019-2020, the then ruling Congress had swept all 10 municipal corporations. It has been dethroned everywhere.
In Raipur, BJP’s Meenal Choubey defeated former Congress mayor Pramod Dubey’s wife Dipti by over 1.5 lakh votes. The state capital will have a BJP mayor after 15 years and Meenal is only the second woman mayor of Raipur (after Congress’s Kiranmayee Nayak).
In Raigarh, BJP fielded a tea-seller, Jivvardhan Chouhan, who beat Janaki Katiyaju of Congress by 36,365 votes to become mayor. BJP also won the chairperson post of Patan Nagar Panchayat – the home turf of former CM Bhupesh Baghel, the Patan MLA.
Opposition Congress managed to win eight municipal councils and 22 nagar panchayats. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won one municipal council and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won a nagar panchayat.
5 municipal councils, 10 nagar panchayats vote for Independents
Five municipal councils and 10 nagar panchayats voted for Independents.
BJP went to the people with the welfare and development schemes of the Vishnu Deo Sai-led govt of the past 13 months.
BJP national president J P Nadda congratulated the state unit on the emphatic win, tweeting: “This historic victory is a symbol of the strong faith Chhattisgarh’s people have on the welfare and tribal-friendly schemes implemented by the double-engine govt under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
BJP won 61 of the 70 wards of Raipur. Former Congress mayor Aijaz Dhebar lost in his own ward.
An elated CM Sai said: “Today is a historic day for BJP and Chhattisgarh govt that will be etched in gold. Voters of Chhattisgarh have shown faith in BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Modi ki Guarantee and development works of the state govt for which I express my gratitude to them and congratulate them.”
“Atal Vishwas Patra (BJP’s urban body poll manifesto) was prepared after extensive deliberations and all its promises will be fulfilled, unlike Congress, which makes promises and forgets,” Sai added.
Referring to the indirect election of mayors in 2019-2020 polls, Sai said Congress “murdered the democracy by discontinuing direct election to mayoral posts”.
For these polls, Sai govt restored the earlier system of direct election of mayors and chairpersons, as the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress govt had discontinued direct mayoral elections.
BJP workers celebrated across the state. In Lormi, deputy CM Arun Sao danced with party workers. TNN
