Raipur, Feb 15 (IANS): As the counting for Chhattisgarh urban body polls was underway on Saturday, former chief minister and BJP leader Dr Raman Singh claimed a big win, further alleging that the Congress has made a “hattrick of defeats” by losing continuously in the elections.

Speaking to the media, the Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker stated, “By losing continuously in Assembly, then Lok Sabha, and finally in urban body polls in the state, Congress has made a hattrick of defeats. This (urban body polls) was a direct election and the voters rejected the Congress. The people have chosen BJP councillors by voting for the party candidates.”

“This result shows the deteriorating condition of the ‘defeated Congress’, divided Congress in Chhattisgarh,” the BJP leader added.

Singh also congratulated the party workers, officials and especially Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, under whose leadership the party won the urban body elections in the state.

He claimed that as many as 40 BJP councillors have won so far. Singh also said that in some areas the party candidates have won by a margin of more than 40,000 votes and described it as a historic moment as the BJP councillor in Raipur won by more than 70,000 votes.

Earlier on Saturday the vote counting process commenced at 9 a.m. with postal ballots, followed by the counting of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes from 9:30 a.m. under tight security.

Polling for 10 Municipal Corporations, 49 Municipal Councils, and 114 Nagar Panchayats across the state, was held on February 11. There are 44.74 lakh voters -- 22.52 lakh males and 22.73 lakh females. The Election Commission set up a total of 597 polling stations across the state for urban body elections.

In January, the Chhattisgarh Election Commission announced that the state will hold urban body elections on February 11, with results to be declared on February 15.