Business Standard

30% voting till noon in Chhattisgarh

Over one lakh security force personnel have been deployed across the state to ensure peaceful polling

PTI IANS Raipur
Around 30% polling was recorded till noon on Tuesday in 72 constituencies spread over 19 districts of Chhattisgarh where voting for the second and last phase of Assembly polls is underway.

Governor Shekhar Dutt, Chief Minister Raman Singh, state Assembly Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Ravindra Choubey exercised their franchise in their respective constituencies.

No untoward incident has been reported so far from any part of the state.
 
"So far the elections in 72 constituencies of 19 districts have been incident-free and 30% polling was recorded till 12 noon," a senior election official said. 
 
EVMs were changed at around 10 polling stations due to some technical problems, he said.
 
State Governor Shekhar Dutt cast his vote in Raipur city north seat where BJP's Srichand Sundarani and Congress' sitting MLA Kuldeep Singh Juneja are in close contest.

Chief Minister Raman Singh voted in his hometown, which falls in Kawardha constituency.
 
On this seat, BJP has denied ticket to its sitting MLA and given an opportunity to Ashok Sahu, while Congress has pitted its senior leader Mohammad Akbar.

Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik exercised his vote in Bilha constituency. He had won this seat against Congress candidate Siyaram Kaushik by 6,070 votes in 2008 elections. Congress has given another opportunity to Siyaram from the same seat.
 
Ravindra Choubey voted in his home constituency Saja.
 
There was heavy polling in a few assembly constituencies, including Marwahi.
 
Congress leader Ajit Jogi's son Amit Jogi is contesting from Marwahi that recorded in excess of 40% voting by noon.
 
Voters queued up in urban as well as in rural areas polling booths much before the start of voting at 8 a.m.
 
In the first phase of ballotting, 18 seats, majority located in Maoists stronghold, went to the polls November 11.
 
The Saraipali seat in Mahasamund district has just five contestants, which is the lowest figure among all 72 seats, while the maximum number of 38 candidates are contesting from Raipur South seat in Raipur district where BJP heavyweight and PWD Minister Brijmohan Agrawal is seeking his sixth consecutive victory.

The main battle is between the ruling BJP, which has governed Chhattisgarh since 2003, and the Congress.
 
Election data shows that the second phase polling for 72 seats, of which 17 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and nine for Scheduled Caste, are spread out in 19 districts.
 
A total of 843 candidates are contesting with an electorate of 1,39,75,470 in the last of the two-phase polls to the 90-member Assembly in the state where BJP government led by Chief Minister Raman Singh is eyeing for a hat-trick against the Congress.
 
Over one lakh security force personnel have been deployed across the state to ensure peaceful polling.
 
The polling is taking place in central and north Chhattisgarh, where 72 candidates each from the BJP and Congress are in fray. There are 75 women contestants.
 
The Congress headed the first government after the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 and it could stage a comeback this time or the BJP could also score a hat-trick.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Nov 19 2013 | 1:14 PM IST

Explore News