Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel lost from the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat in the state on Tuesday by a margin of 44,411 votes, according to data from the Election Commission.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Santosh Pandey won the seat with 7,12,057 votes. Baghel secured 6,67,646 votes. In 2019, Pandey had won from the Rajnandgaon constituency with a margin of 1,11,966 votes.

The Hindutva party won 10 out of the 11 seats in the state. The Congress secured one seat.

In 2019, the BJP had won nine seats in Chhattisgarh and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance had won two.

On Tuesday, Baghel conceded defeat and congratulated Pandey.

“I humbly accept the mandate of the voters of Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency,” he said in a social media post. “Also my gratitude to the millions of voters who expressed their faith in me.”

Rajnandgaon went to the polls on April 26 in the second phase of the election.

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