Around 30% polling was recorded till noon on Tuesday in 72 constituencies spread over 19 districts of Chhattisgarh where voting for the second and last phase of assembly polls is under way.
Governor Shekhar Dutt, chief minister Raman Singh, state assembly speaker Dharamlal Kaushik and leader of opposition in assembly Ravindra Choubey exercised their franchise in their respective constituencies.
No untoward incident has been reported so far from any part of the state. “So far the elections in 72 constituencies of 19 districts have been incident-free and 30% polling was recorded till noon,” a senior election official said.
Electronic voting machines (EVMs) were changed at around 10 polling stations due to some technical problems, he said.
State governor Dutt cast his vote in Raipur city north seat where BJP’s Srichand Sundrani and Congress’ sitting MLA Kuldeep Singh Juneja are in close contest. Chief minister voted in his hometown, which falls in Kawardha constituency. On this seat, BJP has denied ticket to its sitting MLA and given an opportunity to Ashok Sahu, while Congress has pitted its senior leader Mohammed Akbar.
Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik exercised his vote in Bilha constituency. He had won this seat against Congress candidate Siyaram Kaushik by 6,070 votes in 2008 elections. Congress has given another opportunity to Siyaram from the same seat.
Choubey voted in his home constituency Saja. A total of 843 candidates are contesting with an electorate of 1,39,75,470 in the last of the two-phase polls to the 90-member assembly in the state where BJP government led by Singh is eyeing for a hat-trick against the Congress.
Over one lakh security force personnel have been deployed across the state to ensure peaceful polling. The polling is taking place in central and north Chhattisgarh, where 72 candidates each from the BJP and Congress are in fray. There are 75 women contestants.
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