Chhattisgarh: Chitrakot Assembly seat bypoll on Oct 21

The by-election in the Naxal-hit Chitrakot Assembly constituency of Chhattisgarh will be held on October 21.

The bypoll was necessitated after Congress legislator Deepak Baij resigned following his election to the Lok Sabha from Bastar parliamentary constituency.

In the 2018 state Assembly polls, Baij defeated BJP's Lachhuram Kashyap in Chitrakot by a margin of 17,770 votes.

Later, the Congress nominated Baij for the Lok Sabha polls, held earlier this year, from Bastar seat which he won by defeating BJP's Baiduram Kashyap by 38,982 votes.

With the announcement of the bypoll schedule on Saturday, the model code of conduct has come into force in the Chitrakot Assembly segment, which is spread in parts of Bastar and Sukma districts, state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Subrat Sahoo said in a press conference here on Sunday.

Sufficient security is being arranged for the bypoll, he said.

The gazette notification for the bypoll will be issued on Monday and filing of nominations will begin the same day, he said.

The last date for filing of nominations is September 30. The scrutiny of forms will be held on October 1 and candidates can withdraw their names till October 3, he said.

After the polling on October 21, the counting of votes will be held on October 24.

As many as 1,67,722 people, including 79,218 men, 88,503 women and one from the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the constituency.

There will be total 213 polling stations in the constituency. Of these, five will be 'Sangwari' booths, managed by all women staff, and one will be managed by 'divyang' (disabled) government personnel, Sahoo said.

The constituency recorded a voter turnout of 80.32 per cent during the state polls last year while it was 78.90 per cent in 2013 elections, he said.

Last year, the Congress won 68 out of the total 90 seats in the state while the BJP won 15.

The Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bagged five and two seats, respectively.