Chhattisgarh Exit Poll: BJP projected to lose at least 4 seats, Congress to improve tally

The News Nation exit poll results for Chhattisgarh predict at least four seats loss for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the Congress is set to improve its tally in the state with 5-7 seats. The BJP’s projected vote share could around 41 per cent, while the Congress may get 43 per cent. The Others may secure 12 per cent vote share.   

In the 2014 general elections, the BJP had bagged 10 seats out of 11 in Chhattisgarh. This election, the BJP dropped former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh's son and the sitting MP, Abhishek Singh, from its list of candidates who contested the Lok Sabha polls in the state. The party instead fielded Santosh Pandey from the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat.

The development came a few days after the BJP said that the party would change all its 10 sitting MPs in Chhattisgarh for the Lok Sabha polls 2019. The decision to drop all sitting MPs came in the wake of BJP's drubbing in the state in the December assembly elections after 15 years of rule under Raman Singh and is seen as an attempt to beat anti-incumbency against the sitting parliamentarians.

In Chhattisgarh,  voting was held on April 11, 18 and 23.

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Ultras, like previous years, have given a poll boycott call though posters and pamphlets found in some pockets of Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Gariaband (part of the Mahasamund constietuncy) districts.

In April, BJP Chhattisgarh MLA Bhima Mandavi and four policemen were killed in Dantewada after Maoists blew up their vehicle using an improvised explosive device. The terror attack came just 48 hours before the Lok Sabha elections in Bastar. The attack took place between Kuakonta and Shyamgiri hills when the state police escort vehicle was hit by the IED. 

The state has 1,89,16,285 voters, comprising 94,77,113 men, 94,38,463 women and 709 third-gender persons. The number of voters between 18-19 years of age is 4,60,394 in the state. The state has 23,727 polling booths, of which 5,625 are in critical areas. The state has total 15,758 service voters.