Former Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress candidate Bhupesh Baghel suffered a defeat from sitting BJP MP Santosh Pandey in the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 44,411 votes.
As per the latest data provided by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Pandey secured 7,12,057 votes while Baghel got 6,67,646 votes. Baghel served as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh from 2018 to 2023.
Earlier, Baghel alleged that the numbers of many Electronic Voting Machines in his constituency, Rajnandgaon, have changed, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state clarified in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, that the "mismatch" in EVMs number shared with Baghel is not based on facts.
"The alleged mismatch in EVMs number shared with the INC candidate of Rajnandgaon PC is not based on facts. The EVMs used during polls are exactly according to the list of machines shared by Returning Officer after randomization with contesting candidates," CEO Chhattisgarh said in a post on X.