As the counting of votes reaches halfway in most of the constituencies in Chhattisgarh, Bharatiya Janata Party maintains lead in 55 seats and Congress in 33. After nine rounds of counting, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who was initially trailing is now leading in Patan seat, with a margin of 5,598 votes.
However, several ministers of the 13-member Congress cabinet are trailing, including Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo and Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu. As per Election Commission, at 2pm, Singh Deo, who is contesting from Ambikapur is trailing against BJP’s Rajesh Agarwal by 5,106 votes. Home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu is trailing against Lalit Chnadrakar of the BJP by 8,941 votes.
Home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu, both key leaders who were chief ministerial aspirants after the Congress' thumping win in the 2018 polls, and state unit chief Deepak Baij. Congress State Chief Deepak Baij is trailing in Chitrakot.
Civil Supplies Minister Amarjeet Bhagat, contesting from Sitapur is trailing by 8,710 votes against BJP's Ram Kumar Toppo. Revenue Minister Jaysingh Agrawal trails by 10,559 votes against BJP's Lakhanlal Dewangan.
Labour Minister Shiv Kumar Dahariya trails by 8,153 seats against BJP's Guru Khushwant Saheb and Law Minister Ravindra Choubey is also trailing in the Saja constituency against BJP's Ishwar Sahu. Minister for Public Health Engineering Guru Rudra Kumar trails by 4,923 seats in Nawagarh and Transport Minister Mohammad Akbar is trailing by 12,344 votes in Kawardha seat. Minister for Minority Welfare Mohan Markam trails by 4,213 votes in Kondagaon.
Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker Charan Das Mahant, who was initially trailing now leads by a margin of 3,106 votes against the BJP's Khilawan Sahu in Sakti.
Other cabinet ministers - Higher Education Minister Umesh Patel is leading in Kharsia seat by 10,646 votes against BJP's Mahesh Sahu and Minister for Women and Child Welfare Anila Bhendia is leading by 22,196 votes against BJP's Devlal Thakur in Dondi Lohara seat.