More than 20 mn persons eligible to vote in Chhattisgarh assembly polls

More than two crore persons are eligible to vote in the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls scheduled for November 7 and 17, officials said on Monday.

The model code of conduct has come into force after the Election Commission of India announced the state's poll schedule, they added. The counting of votes will take place on December 3.

Twenty constituencies will witness polling in the first phase on November 7, while the rest of the 70 seats would go to polls in the second phase on November 17, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Reena Babasaheb Kangale told reporters.

Twelve constituencies falling in seven districts of Naxalite-affected Bastar division and eight constituencies in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Rajnandgaon, Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai and Kabirdham districts have been covered in the first phase.

"The gazette notification for the first phase will be issued on October 13, with filing of nominations to begin on the same day. Final date for filing nominations is October 20, after which scrutiny of nominations would be completed by the next day. Contestants may withdraw their names by October 23, well before the first phase of polling on November 7," she said.

"Similarly, the gazette notification for the second phase will be issued on October 21. The last date to file nominations will be October 30 and scrutiny will be completed by the next day. Contestants may withdraw their candidature until November 2 after which 70 constituencies would go to polls on November 17," she added.

There will be 24,109 polling stations in 90 Assembly constituencies, 29 of which are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 10 for Scheduled Castes, the official informed.

"With the model code of conduct coming into force, all posters, wall writing, banners, hoardings, cut-outs, stickers, flags and political advertisements should be removed from government offices and buildings within 24 hours and within 48 hours from public places," she said.

A total of 2,03,60,240 crore persons, comprising 1,01,20,380 male, 1,02,39,410 female and 790 transgenders, are eligible to vote, the CEO said, adding the percentage of voters has increased by 9.5 percent as compared to the figure in the 2018 polls.

"Of the total voters, the number of persons with disability (PwD) is 1,60,955, first time voters in the 18-19 age group stands at 7,23,771, those above the age of 80 years is 1,86,215, those above 100 years of age is 2,462 and 'pravasi Bharatiya' voters is 17," she said.

There will be 10 'Sangwari' polling centres, which will be managed by women, five 'Adarsh' polling stations in each Assembly constituency, as well as one each managed by PwDs and youth.

"A total of 900 Sangwari polling stations, 450 model polling stations, 90 centres managed by PwDs and 90 polling stations managed by youth will be set up across the state. Live webcasting will be done on voting day in 50 per cent of the polling stations of the state," Kangale said.

Adequate security forces are being arranged for the elections, she added.

During election campaigning, recognized parties can have a maximum of 40 star campaigners while the figure is 20 for non-recognized parties.

The list of campaigners should be submitted to the poll commission within seven days of the release of election notification, she said.