Chhattisgarh Civic Body Elections 2025: Vote Counting Begins For 173 Municipalities Across 33 Districts; BJP-Congress Mayoral Face-Off

Raipur: Counting of votes for civic body elections will take place on Saturday across 173 civic bodies in 33 districts of the state. State Election Commissioner Ajay Singh informed the media that all necessary arrangements have been made for this important event, with counting set to begin at 9 am for Election Duty Ballots (EDB) and at 9:30 am for votes cast via Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The civic body elections were held on February 11, involving 10,110 candidates, which included 79 vying for the mayoral positions, 604 for presidency in various councils, and 9,427 for corporator roles. Additionally, six candidates participated in by-elections for corporator positions. The elections recorded an impressive voter turnout of 72.48%.

According to the State Election Commission, a total of 12,500 control units and 22,650 ballot units were utilized during the voting process, which encompassed 10 Municipal Corporations, 49 Municipal Councils, and 114 Nagar Panchayats. Notably, the candidate for the presidency in Nagar Panchayat Basna from Mahasamund district was elected unopposed, alongside 31 corporator candidates in general elections and 2 in by-elections.

Some technical difficulties were reported, leading to the replacement of faulty EVMs in several districts, including Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai, Gariaband, Janjgir-Champa, Dantewada, Mahasamund, Balrampur-Ramanujganj, Surajpur, and Mungeli.

The election process was peaceful, with 7,879 Election Duty Ballots reported from both male and female voters. In the mayoral race, competition appears to be particularly fierce between candidates from the BJP and Congress parties.

The distribution of candidates for mayor positions across the 10 Municipal Corporations is as follows: 7 in Bilaspur, 11 in Korba, 7 in Raigarh, 6 in Ambikapur, 16 in Raipur, 8 in Dhamtari, 11 in Rajnandgaon, 5 in Jagdalpur, 2 in Durg, and 5 in Chirmiri. For the presidency in municipal councils and nagar panchayats, 604 candidates are in contention, while 9,427 candidates have registered for corporator roles across the 173 civic bodies.