Voting begins on brisk note in Chhattisgarh's second phase

Ballotting for the second and final phase of elections in Chhattisgarh, which has been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party for a decade, began Tuesday on a brisk note at 72 constituencies.

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 Nov 11.

Over 1.39 crore voters, including 68.30 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 18,015 polling booths to decide the fate of 843 candidates of which 75 are women.

The election commission has made elaborate security arrangements and has also installed about 3,000 cameras at booths to ensure free and fair polling.

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 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has governed Chhattisgarh since 2003, and the Congress.

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.

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.