Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday cast his vote for the assembly elections at a poll booth situated in Kawardha district. After getting inked, Singh spoke to media and stated that he is certain that his political outfit- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will emerge victorious by bagging the majority of votes.
Talking to reporters, he stated, "I can see that the people of Chhattisgarh have come out in large number to exercise their franchise despite residing in rural and outskirts areas. After looking at the mood of the people, I am sure that BJP will again win and would get 65 plus seats. The development of the region has taken place from the time BJP has come to power and we are sure that we will emerge victorious. This time during the first phase of voting even Naxal-hit areas such Bastar the voter turn out was 80 per cent to 82 per cent."
When asked to comment on the Congress leaders approaching Election Commission about alleged EVM tampering by the BJP, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister stated, "They (Congress) carry out such moves in order to find an exuse for being defeated. This is their old strategy. If one looks closely, if the Congress is winning the elections in state such as Karnataka and Punjab, their leaders will complain of tampered EVMs."
On Tuesday morning, a delegation of Congress leaders led by PL Punia meet the poll body in the national capital over alleging attempts to misuse and tamper EVMs in Chhattisgarh.
According to the Election Commission of India, overall percentage stood at 23.71 per cent at 12:30 PM. Pathalgaon is on the top of the list with 34.70 per cent turnout followed by Kunkuri and Jashpur with 34.7 per cent voter turnout and 34.5 per cent voter turnout respectively.
Other areas such as Baikunthupur, Mannendragarh and Bharatpur-sonhat have recorded 32.3 per cent, 24 per cent and 25.10 respectively.
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Today, the polling is taking place in 72 constituencies spread over 19 districts. The voting which commenced at 8 am is scheduled to end at 5 PM.
As many as 19,300 polling booths have been set up after scrutiny and withdrawal. 1079 candidates including 119 women are in the fray. More than 1,54,00,000 voters are eligible to exercise their voting right.