The counting of votes in the urban body elections in Chhattisgarh will take place on December 23, the main contenders for power being the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
State Election Commissioner Thakur Ram Singh said that the counting will start across the state from 9.00 am.
Polling was held on December 20 for 370 wards in 15 urban bodies while bye-elections took place in 15 wards.
All preparations for the vote count have been completed in all the districts.
All the centres have been asked to ensure adequate security, firefighting measures and uninterrupted electricity, an official communication said.
The counting will be held at Bilaspur (Bilaspur), Raigarh (Sarangarh and Raigarh), Surajpur (Premnagar), Korea (Baikunthpur and Shivpurcharcha), Raipur (Birgaon and Gobra Navapara), Mahasamund (Basna), Dhamtari (Kurud, Magarlod, and Amdi) and Bemetara (Maro, Devkar, Thankhamariya and Bemetara).
Similarly, counting will take place at Durg (Bhilai, Risali, Jamul, Bhilai-Charoda and Utai), Rajnandgaon (Khairagarh and Rajnandgaon), Kondagaon (Keshkal and Kondagaon), Kanker (Naharpur and Bhanupratapur), Dantewada (Bacheli), Sukma (Konta), and Bijapur (Bhairamgarh and Bhopalpatnam.)
Both the Congress and the BJP have claimed they are poised to win the polls.