Chhattisgarh is a relatively new State, with only four Assembly elections under its belt. The first one was held in 2003. In all four elections, the fight was mainly between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC), with parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) bagging between one to three seats.
The BJP controlled the Assembly from 2003 to 2018. In 2018, the INC won the election in a landslide victory. That election broadened the previously narrowing victory margins from 0.74% in 2013 to just over 10% in 2018. The INC secured a whopping 71 seats as against 13 for the BJP.
This is reflected in vote shares of the two parties, too. From 2003, the vote shares of both the BJP and the INC are very close to each other. The year 2018 was an exception, when the gap between the parties’ vote shares widened by over 11 percentage points.
The State has 29 constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Tribe candidates and 10 reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.
Women in Chhattisgarh’s elections
While the proportion of women candidates in total candidates has fallen from a high of 8.82% in 2008, women are winning more. For instance, in 2018, around 12.75% of women candidates won. This figure has risen from over 8% in 2003. In the 90-seat assembly, 13 were women winners in 2018, up from 5 in 2003, 10 in 2008 and 2013.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is among the top States with the highest percentage of women in State assemblies, second only after Tripura.
