Campaigning for first phase of C'garh polls ends

Campaigning for the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly elections, scheduled to be held on November 11, came to an end this evening in the southern part of the state, which saw high-profile visits by national leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi.
Out of the 90 assembly constituencies in the state, the first phase polls will be held in the 18 constituencies on the coming Monday.
Twelve constituencies in the naxal-affected Bastar division, comprising seven districts- Kanker, Kondagaon, Bastar, Narayanpur, Bijapur, Dantewada, Sukma- and six constituencies of Rajnandgaon district will go to polls in the first phase.
"Campaign for 18 constituencies of Bastar division and Rajnandgaon district ended this evening," Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kujur told reporters here today.

The time of polling in 12 constituencies of Bastar and one of Rajnandgaon district is from 7 am to 3 pm and in these constituencies campaign ended at 3 pm, while in the rest of the constituencies in Rajnandgaon, the campaigning ended at 5 pm, as per the polling time.
The polling parties would reach their destination by tomorrow evening.

Helicopters have been pressed into service for air-lifting EVMs, polling personnel and polling materials before and after the election in the naxal-affected 192 polling booths located in remote areas.
While 12 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, another 5 are reserved for Scheduled Castes in the first phase.

Political fate of 143 candidates will be decided by an estimated 14,52,916 voters.
Maximum number of candidates fielded in two constituencies - Rajnandgaon and Jagdalpur (14 in each) and least number of candidates are in Konta (4).