Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections: Voting Begins For Second Phase (image-twitter/spokespersonECI)
The second phase of polling in the state of Chhattisgarh to its remaining 70 assembly constituencies out of 90 has begun. The polling began at 8 am and will end at 5 pm across 22 districts in the state. In the Naxal-effected Bindranawagarh seat in Rajim district, voting will be held from 7 am to 3 pm. Voting of the 20 seats in Chhattisgarh was held on November 7. The results will be announced on December 3.
Meanwhile, election for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh will also be held on Friday.
The fate of several prominent leaders including the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, his deputy T.S Singh Deo and BJP State President Arun Sao will be decided in this phase.
The polling booths in the Naxal-effected Bindranawagarh seat are Kamarbhaudi, Amamora, Odh, Bade Gobra, Ganwargaon, Gariba, Nagesh, Sahbinkachhar and Kodomali. In these polling stations, the voting will end at 3 pm.
Over 18,000 polling station have been set up across 22 districts. Out of this, 727 are ‘Sangwari’ booths were women polling personnel are deployed. For the first time in country’s history women will shoulder the entire responsibility of an electoral process in an Assembly segment.
In the state of Chhattisgarh, the electoral fight is between BJP and Congress. The election result will determine whether the ruling Congress will continue the governance or not. Party top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhupesh Baghel held extensive campaigns before voting. The BJP, which has ruled the state between 2003 and 2018, seeks to replace Baghel government in this election.
Both the parties have claimed to have done well in the first phase. BJP has not projected anyone for the chief ministerial post and rather sticked on to ‘collective leadership’. Meanwhile, Congress clearly projected Bhupesh Baghel as its chief ministerial face. In the 2018 Assembly polls, Congress won a total of 71-seats in the 90 member House.
In the last stretch of campaigning, Union Home Minister Amit Shah highlighted the accusation and corruption against the Baghel government while Rahul Gandhi once again projected out the key promises. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too joined the campaign by predicting a crushing defeat for Congress through his X handle.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will contest from his traditional Patan seat where the BJP has fielded his distant nephew and party MP Vijay Baghel as their candidate.
Polling parties have reached their designated polling booths and 958 candidates are in the fray in this phase. Out of 958 candidates, 827 men, 130 women and one transgender will contest for 70 seats. 1,63,14,479 voters are eligible to vote in this election. In this majority are women with the count 81,72,171 while men are 81,41,624 and there are 684 third gender voters in the state.
