Campaigning for 1st phase of Chhattisgarh assembly poll ends

The campaign for the first phase of polls in 18 out of 90 assembly seats in Chhattisgarh came top an end today, capping weeks of intensive electioneering that saw top national leaders making a beeline to the tribal region which holds key to power.
The constituencies, especially the 12 seats in Bastar region, are considered the worst-affected by the Maoist violence, prompting the Election Commission to hold elections there in one phase amidst a huge presence of paramilitary personnel
As many as 143 candidates, including Chief Minister Raman Singh, are in the fray. Singh is seeking re-election from Rajnandgaon where he is pitted against Alka Mudaliar of Congress whose husband and former MLA Uday Mudaliar was killed in a Maoist attack on a Congress rally in May this year.

BJP had won 15 out of the 18 seats in last elections with Congress managing only three.
It is Bastar region which is at the centre of an absorbing political battle between ruling BJP and Congress for capturing power in the state with the opposition pulling out all stops to make a dent in this saffron bastion.
BJP rode to power in two consecutive elections in 2003 and 2008 by winning nine and 11 of its 12 seats respectively while Congress could only one.

The STs comprise over 70 percent of population in Bastar which is spread across seven districts and is bigger in area than Kerala and 11 seats are reserved for ST candidates.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi had held one rally and its vice-president Rahul Gandhi addressed multiple rallies here in a bid to reverse their party's fortune while BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narednra Modi made a whirlwind tour on November 7.
The large attendance of people in the rallies of Congress star campaigners coupled with party's energetic campaign against the state government's alleged corruption and its failure in preventing the Maoist attack on opposition leaders have filled its rankd and file with hope despite opinion polls predicting yet another defeat for it.