Five former ministers who lost the 2018 Chhattisgarh assembly elections and were re-nominated by the BJP for the polls this time were leading in their respective seats as vote counting was underway on Sunday, according to the Election Commission data.

Bhaiyyalal Rajwade (Baikunthpur), Amar Agrawal (Bilaspur), Rajesh Munat (Raipur City West), Kedar Kashyap (Narayanpur) and Dayaldas Baghel (Nawagarh) were ministers in the previous BJP government in the state.

They lost the 2018 assembly polls, but were leading this time against their nearest Congress rivals, as per the latest trends.

However, former ministers Premprakash Pandey (Bhilai Nagar) and Mahesh Gagda (Bijapur), who were also re-nominated this time by the BJP despite losing the previous election, were trailing.

Senior BJP leader and former chief minister Raman Singh (Rajnandgaon), two other former ministers of the BJP - Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur city south) and Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud), all three incumbent MLAs, were leading from their respective seats.

Another former minister Punnulal Mohile, a senior Scheduled Caste community leader from the BJP who is a six-term MLA and a four-time MP, was renominated from his traditional seat Mungeli this time.

He was trailing by 1,211 votes against Congress' Sanjeet Banarjee.

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