Amid tight security, final phase of polling begins in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, November 20 

Nearly 25.2 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise till 12.30 pm in the second and final phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly election on Tuesday, an election official said.

A total of 1,079 candidates, including 119 women, are contesting in 72 constituencies of the state with an electorate of 1,54,00,596.

This is the last of the two-phase polls to the 90-member Assembly, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power for the last 15 years.

“Around 25.2 per cent polling has been registered till 12.30 pm,” the poll official said.

Earlier, polling began on a slow note in many constituencies and gradually picked up momentum with queues of voters being seen at several polling booths.

The time of polling is from 8 am-5 pm, but in two polling booths -- Amamora (booth No. 72) and Modh (No.76) in Bindranavgarh constituency (Gariaband district) -- voting is being held from 7 am-3 pm due to the threat posed by Naxals, the official said.

There were reports of technical snag in electronic voting machines (EVMs) at some places and corrective measures were taken, he said.

Around 1.5-lakh security personnel have been deployed across the state to ensure peaceful polling, he said.

In the second phase, districts like Gariaband, Dhamtari, Mahasamund, Kabirdham, Jashpur and Balrampur are Naxal-affected areas and extra vigil is being maintained there, the official said.

The maximum number of candidates are in Raipur City South constituency (46), and the least number of six candidates are in Bindranavagarh seat.

Of the 72 seats, 17 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and nine for Scheduled Castes.

A total of 19,336 polling booths have been set up for the second phase, of which 444 are sensitive booths.

The first phase of the polls in 18 seats of eight Naxal- hit districts last week had recorded over 76-per-cent voter turnout.

The counting of votes will be held on December 11.  PTI