LS polls: 47 pc polling till 1 pm in Chhattisgarh

Over 47 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 1 pm in Chhattisgarh's three Lok Sabha seats on Thursday as people braved the scorching summer heat to come out and exercise their franchise, an official said.

Voting in the second phase of polling in the state began at 7 am in Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund Lok Sabha seats, all having Naxal presence, amid tight security, the official at the state election office said.

"Around 47.02 per cent voting has been recorded till 1 pm," he said, adding that long queues of voters were seen at several polling booths.

Former chief minister Raman Singh, BJP candidate from Rajnandgaon Santosh Pandey, party's state chief Vikram Usendi, Congress leader and women and child development minister Anila Bhediya and other senior leaders cast votes in their respective areas, he said.

According to police, except for the IED (improvised explosive device) blast triggered by Maoists in Mohla-Manpur Assembly segment of Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, no other untoward incident was reported in the poll-bound areas.

A massive security blanket of around 60,000 personnel, and drones, has been thrown around the three constituencies for polls, they said.

The Kanker Lok Sabha constituency has eight Assembly segments and of these, polling in four - Antagarh, Keshkal, Bhanupratappur and Kanker - is being held from 7 am to 3 pm in view of the Maoist threat, the official said.

In rest of the Assembly segments - Sihawa, Sanjari- Balod, Daundilohara and Gunderdehi - the polling time is from 7 am to 5 pm, he said.

The Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency also consists of eight Assembly segments.

One of them - Manpur-Mohla - will witness polling from 7 am to 3 pm, while voters in rest of them can exercise their democratic right from 7 am to 5 pm, the official said.

The polling time in the Mahasamund constituency is from 7 am to 5 pm, except in six hypersensitive booths at Odh, Kamabhaundi, Amammora, Badegobra, Sahbinkachhar and Kodomali villages, where the voting time is from 7 am to 3 pm, he said.