Raipur: Voting in urban body elections in Chhattisgarh is going on today (Feb. 11, 2025), taking place across 173 urban bodies, including 10 municipal corporations, 49 municipalities, and 114 municipal councils.
The voting began at 8 am and will continue until 5 pm, with results scheduled to be declared on February 15. The 10 municipal corporations where elections are being held include Raipur, Jagdalpur, Durg, Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur, Dhamtari, Raigarh, Korba, Chirmiri, and Ambikapur. Alongside these, by-elections for five wards in Durg and Sukma are also being conducted. The election will determine the future leadership in these urban areas.
The total electorate for the urban body elections is 44.74 lakh, with 22.52 lakh male voters and 22.73 lakh female voters. To ensure a smooth polling process, the Election Commission has set up 5,970 polling stations across the state, with special arrangements made in areas with large numbers of voters.
Security has been ramped up for the election, with personnel from the Chhattisgarh Police and Home Guards deployed at various centres. There is increased patrolling in sensitive areas to maintain law and order. Surveillance is also being closely monitored at polling centres with larger voter turnouts.
In the 10 municipal corporations, the main contest for the mayor's post is between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP. The prominent mayoral contests are:
| Municipal Corporations | BJP Candidate | Congress Candidate |
| Raipur | Meenal Chaubey | Deepti Dubey |
| Rajnandgaon | Madhusudan Yadav | Nikhil Dwivedi |
| Ambikapur | Manjusha Bhagat | Dr Ajay Tirkey |
| Korba | Sanju Devi | Usha Tiwari |
| Durg | Alka Baghmar | Premlata Poshan Sahu |
| Jagdalpur | Sanjay Pandey | Malkit Singh Gaidu |
| Raigarh | Jivardhan Chauhan | Janaki Katju |
| Bilaspur | Pooja Vidhani | Pramod Nayak |
| Chirmiri | Ramnaresh Rai | Vinay Jaiswal |
In Dhamtari Municipal Corporation, BJP's Jagdish Ramu Rohra was initially competing with Congress's Vijay Golcha, but Golcha's nomination was cancelled.
Both parties have outlined their agendas for the election. The BJP manifesto includes promises such as a 25 per cent rebate on property taxes for women, expansion of 'pink toilets in market areas, free Wi-Fi in schools and colleges, free sanitary pads for female students, and sickle cell screening centres across municipal areas.
On the other hand, the Congress manifesto promises doorstep delivery of services, installation of CCTV cameras near schools and colleges, regularisation of contractual municipal employees, and the provision of free Wi-Fi in public spaces. They also include the distribution of sanitary pads to female students.
The Chhattisgarh urban body elections are significant for several reasons, particularly the introduction of direct elections for mayoral posts. Previously, under the Bhupesh Baghel government, the mayor and chairperson were chosen indirectly by the elected councillors. The current government, led by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, restored direct voting for the mayoral elections.
