Chhattisgarh polls: 45.2% voter turnout till 3 pm

Around 45.2 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 3 pm in 72 constituencies in the second and final phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls on Tuesday, a poll official said.

A total of 1,079 candidates, including 119 women, are contesting in 72 constituencies of the state with an electorate of 1,54,00,596.

The figure stood at nearly 25.2 per cent till 12:30pm.

The first phase of the polls in 18 seats of eight Naxal- hit districts last week had recorded over 76-per-cent voter turnout.

This is the last of the two-phase polls to the 90-member Assembly, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power for the last 15 years.

"Around 45.2 per cent polling has been registered till 3 pm," the official said.

The time of polling is from 8 am to 5 pm in all booths except two- Amamora (booth no.72) and Modh (no.76) in Bindranavgarh constituency in Gariaband district, where voting is being held from 7 am to 3 pm due to the Naxal issue, the official informed.

There were reports of technical snag in EVMs at some places which delayed the polling, he said.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has removed a presiding officer and a polling staff deployed at different polling booths in Marwahi constituency of Bilaspur district following the receipt of complaints against them.

Bilaspur Collector P Dayanand removed presiding officer of Semra polling booth, Surendra Kumar Mandavi, and a polling staff of Dhanauli polling station, Kamal Kishore Tiwari, after getting complaints against them by concerned polling agents, a statement issued by poll officials said.

"An enquiry has been ordered against Mandavi and Tiwari and they have been ousted from the polling duty," it said.

Chief Minister Raman Singh, his wife Veena Singh and son Abhishek Singh, a BJP MP from Rajnandaon district, voted in Kawardha constituency.

State ministers including Brijmohan Agrawal, Rajesh Munat and Prem Prakash Pandey, besides State Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel and Leader of Opposition T S Singhdeo exercised their franchise in their respective areas.

Around 1.50 lakh security personnel have been deployed across the state to ensure peaceful polling, he said.

In the second phase, districts like Gariaband, Dhamtari, Mahasamund, Kabirdham, Jashpur and Balrampur are Naxal-affected areas and extra vigil is being maintained there, the official said.

The maximum number of candidates are in Raipur City South constituency (46), and the least number of six candidates are in Bindranavagarh seat.

Of the 72 seats, 17 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and nine for Scheduled Castes.

A total of 19,336 polling booths have been set up for the second phase, of which 444 are sensitive booths.

The counting of votes will be held on December 11.