Congress sweeps back into power in Chhattisgarh
What happened
Indian National Congress returned to power in Chhattisgarh, ending Chief Minister Raman Singh's government.1
It won 68 of the 90 seats on offer.
That left it 22 seats clear of a majority.
The INC took 75.6% of the seats on 43.0% of the vote.
Bharatiya Janata Party fell to 15 seats on 33.0% of the vote, a collapse from the government it had led.
Raman Singh held his own seat at Rajnandgaon by [data unavailable] votes, even as his party lost the state.1
- 1Incumbent CM Raman Singh Seeks Fourth Term from Rajnandgaon — 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election, Karuna Shukla
The campaign
The Indian National Congress expelled Ajit Jogi, the state's first chief minister, in 2016 over a dispute linked to a 2014 by-election. He founded the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh on 23 June 2016.2
Ahead of the 2018 election, Jogi's Janata Congress Chhattisgarh allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party, contesting 55 seats to the BSP's 35. In February 2018 he announced he would contest from Rajnandgaon, then Marwahi.3
On 6 October 2018 the Election Commission set a two-phase schedule: voting on 12 November across 18 Left-Wing-Extremism-affected seats, and on 20 November in the remaining 72. Counting was fixed for 11 December.4
Incumbent Chief Minister Raman Singh, seeking a fourth term, led the BJP's campaign and stood again from Rajnandgaon, facing Congress's Karuna Shukla, a former BJP leader who defected to Congress in 2014.1
As the first phase opened on 12 November, an IED exploded in Katekalyan, Dantewada, and an encounter with security forces at Bijapur left 10 Naxalites dead and five personnel injured. On 18 November, another IED blast in Sukma killed three security personnel two days before the second phase.56
- 1Incumbent CM Raman Singh Seeks Fourth Term from Rajnandgaon — 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election, Karuna Shukla
- 2Ajit Jogi Forms Janata Congress Chhattisgarh After Expulsion — Janta Congress Chhattisgarh — Wikipedia
- 3Ajit Jogi's JCC Ties Up with BSP for 2018 Poll, Splits 90 Seats — Janta Congress Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi
- 4Election Commission Announces Two-Phase Chhattisgarh Poll Schedule — 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election
- 5IED Blast and Security Forces' Encounter Mark Phase-1 Polling — 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election
- 6IED Blast Kills Three Security Personnel Ahead of Phase-2 Polling — 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election
What changed
The BJP's run in office came apart.
It had won the previous 3 elections in the state.
39 of the 53 seats that changed hands moved from BJP to INC alone — the single largest shift of the election.
A new party, JCC(J), founded by Ajit Jogi after he left INC, entered the assembly for the first time, winning 5 of the 90 seats.2
- 2Ajit Jogi Forms Janata Congress Chhattisgarh After Expulsion — Janta Congress Chhattisgarh — Wikipedia
Notable numbers
The tightest finish was at Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh: a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of 464 votes separated the top two.
At the other end, Khallari, Chhattisgarh was won by 34.4% of the vote — the widest margin anywhere in the state.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — was lowest at Bijapur, Chhattisgarh, 48.9%, the seat where an encounter between security forces and Naxalites broke out as voting began.5
Kasdol, Chhattisgarh was the state's largest constituency, with 3,33,240 names on the electoral rolls.
NOTA — "None of the Above" — a ballot option letting voters formally reject every candidate on offer — drew 2.0% of the vote statewide.
- 5IED Blast and Security Forces' Encounter Mark Phase-1 Polling — 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election
The backdrop
Chhattisgarh became India's 26th state on 1 November 2000, carved out of Madhya Pradesh, with Raipur as its capital.7
Its 90-seat assembly held its first general election in November 2003.7
In 2013, Maoist insurgents ambushed a Congress convoy in Jhiram Ghati, killing at least 27 people, including state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel and former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla, who died of his injuries on 11 June.8
- 7Chhattisgarh Created From Madhya Pradesh — Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 — Wikipedia
- 8Jhiram Ghati Attack on a Congress Convoy — 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley — Wikipedia