C'garh gears up for last phase, elections across 7 LS seats

The campaign for the third and the last phase of Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh, with Union Minister of State Charandas Mahant, state BJP President Vishnudeo Sai and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla in the fray among others, ended today.
Seven constituencies -- Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Janjgir-Champa, Raigarh, Surguja and Korba -- will go to the polls on April 24.
State's Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kujur said that 153 candidates are in the fray across these constituencies, with the total number of voters being 1,18,10,256.
Twenty-two candidates are from recognised national political parties.
A total of 14,474 polling booths, including 3,283 'critical', have been set up where 71,679 polling personnel would be deployed. The constituencies are spread across 14 districts covering 58 assembly seats, Kujur added.

The polling hours would be from 7 am to 6 pm.

A total of 15,921 EVMs will be set up.
BJP has fielded veteran leader Banshilal Mahto against the Union Home Minister of state for Agriculture and Food Processing and the sitting Congress MP Charandas Mahant in Korba. Raigarh will see a contest between state BJP chief and the sitting MP Vishnudeo Sai and Congress's Aarti Singh.
In Raipur, six-time BJP MP Ramesh Bais is pitted against Congress MLA Satyanarayan Sharma. Durg will witness a battle between national president of BJP Mahila Morcha and the sitting MP Saroj Pandey and Congress's Tamradhwaj Sahu, a former MLA.

Sitting MP Kamla Devi Patle of BJP faces Congress's Premchand Jaisi in Janjgir-Champa. In Bilaspur, Congress has fielded the niece of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Karuna Shukla, who quit BJP last year, against Lakhan Lal Sahu of the BJP.
Ramdev Ram of Congress is pitted against BJP's Kamalbhan Singh Marawi in Surguja.