BJP sweeps Chhattisgarh urban body polls

Bharatiya Janata Party dominates Chhattisgarh urban body polls, winning mayoral posts and majority of local bodies.

Extending its streak of electoral victories in Chhattisgarh, the Bharatiya Janata Party swept the urban body polls in the results announced on Saturday (February 15, 2025). 

In all, 173 local bodies went to the polls on February 11. The BJP won the mayoral posts in all ten municipal corporations, where the contest was mainly between the BJP and the Opposition Congress.

It also won 35 of the 49 municipal councils, with the Congress winning eight, and the Aam Aadmi Party opening its account in Chhattisgarh by winning the mayoral post in the Bodari Nagar Palika of Bilaspur. Five other posts were won by Independent candidates.

Of the 114 nagar panchayats, the BJP won an overwhelming 81 compared to 22 for the Congress, carrying over its performance from the Assembly election where it had won all but one of the urban seats. The BJP had focussed its campaign on the welfare schemes it has launched since assuming power in the State in December 2023.   

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and BJP national president J.P. Nadda termed the election as historic. In a post on X, Mr. Nadda wrote that the victory was a symbol of “the unwavering faith of the people of the State on the public welfare and tribal-friendly schemes being implemented by the double-engine government under the guidance of the respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji”.

The Congress, on the other hand, said the results were not according to its expectations, even as it accused the BJP of misusing power by tweaking the poll schedule. It also questioned the non-availability of VVPATs despite conducting elections using electronic voting machines or EVMs. Former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel pointed to the BJP’s defeat in Kunkuri, the CM’s Assembly constituency, claiming that this represented a defeat of Mr. Sai’s “so-called ‘good governance’”.