Raipur, November 17 (Language) The second and final phase of voting for 70 seats in Chhattisgarh Assembly elections ended at 5 pm on Friday and during this time 70.59 percent voters exercised their franchise.
Tight security arrangements were made to ensure peaceful voting in the state.
There were 1,63,14,479 voters in the state for the second phase of voting. In this phase, the fate of 958 candidates including the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, eight ministers and four MPs was sealed in the EVMs.
Naxalites blasted a landmine during the return of the polling party after the elections in the state. A soldier of Indo-Tibetan Border Police died in this incident. A woman died during voting and a man who was going to vote was crushed by a wild elephant.
Senior state officials said that voting began at 7 am in the morning at nine polling stations in Naxal-affected Bindranavagarh seat of Rajim district and ended at 3 pm.
Voting began at 8 am in other constituencies where voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm.
He said that till the end of voting at 5 pm, 70.59 percent voters had exercised their franchise for 70 seats. In the second phase of voting, 84.07 percent voters exercised their franchise in Sanjari Balod seat and the least 52.11 percent voters exercised their franchise in Raipur Nagar South seat of the capital Raipur.
Officials said this figure is not final. This figure may increase after receiving information from other areas.
In the last assembly elections, there was 76.62 percent voting in 72 seats in the second phase.
Officials said voting was slow initially on Friday, but as time passed, voters started coming out of their homes in large numbers to vote. Later, long queues were seen in front of polling stations.
Naxalites exploded a landmine near Badegobra village under Mainpur police station area of Naxal-affected Gariaband district of the state. In this incident, ITBP head constable Joginder Singh, deployed for the security of the polling party, died. Badegobra polling station is one of the nine polling stations in Bindranwagarh region where voting took place from 7 am to 3 pm.
A woman died while voting in Kasdol assembly constituency of Balodabazar district of Chhattisgarh.
Election Officer of Kasdol Assembly seat, Bhupendra Aggarwal said that Sahodara Bai Nishad (58) was standing in the queue to vote in polling station number 76 of Malda Gram Panchayat of the area.
She told that she was waiting for her turn when suddenly she fell down. With the help of polling workers, his family took him to the Community Health Center Kasdol where doctors declared him dead.
In another incident, Umendra Singh (25), who was on his way to vote in Mangora village of Khargwan forest range in Koriya forest division of Koriya district, was killed in a wild elephant attack.
Forest department officials said that when Singh left home, a wild elephant was roaming near the village. A large number of villagers were present to see the elephant, when Singh reached there, the elephant ran towards the crowd and crushed the lion to death. Singh’s family has been given immediate assistance.
Senior officials of the state said that Governor Vishwabhushan Harichandan and his wife Suprabha Harichandan reached the Adarsh polling station located at Sihawa Bhawan Civil Lines in the capital Raipur and exercised their franchise.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel exercised his franchise in Kuruddih village of his constituency Patan. Baghel shared a picture on social media in which he is seen waiting for his turn at a polling booth in the village. Baghel wrote, “Waiting for your turn to vote..”
Speaking to reporters before voting, Baghel said his party will win more than 75 seats (in the 90-member assembly) and the contest in Patan constituency is one-sided.
In Baghel’s constituency Patan, BJP has fielded his distant nephew and party MP Vijay Baghel. The candidature of Amit Jogi, state president of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and son of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, in Patan has added a new dimension to the contest.
When asked about a possible triangular contest in Patan, Baghel denied it and said that people and farmers are contesting (the election on their behalf) and the contest is one-sided.
Assembly Speaker Charandas Mahant and his wife, Korba MP Jyotsna Mahant, Deputy Chief Minister TS Singhdev, state government ministers Anila Bhediya, Ravindra Choubey, Umesh Patel, Jaisingh Aggarwal, Amarjeet Bhagat and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Narayan Chandel exercised their franchise in their constituencies. Used.
Whereas BJP state unit president Arun Sao (candidate Lormi area) exercised his franchise in Bilaspur city and Union Minister of State Renuka Singh (candidate Bharatpur-Sonhat) exercised his franchise in Parshurampur village of Surajpur district.
BJP candidate from Saja assembly constituency Ishwar Sahu cast his vote with his family in Biranpur village. Ishwar Sahu’s son Bhuvaneshwar Sahu was killed during a communal violence in April this year.
State Chief Electoral Officer Reena Baba Saheb Kangale exercised his franchise at Dharampura in the capital and Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain exercised his franchise at the polling center in Devendra Nagar.
Officials said that in the second phase, there are a total of 958 candidates, including 827 men, 130 women and one candidate belonging to gender third category, whose electoral fate was sealed in the EVMs.
He said that Raipur City West seat has the maximum number of 26 candidates, while Dondilohara constituency has the least number of four candidates in the fray.
Officials said that out of the total voters in the second phase, 81,41,624 were male, 81,72,171 were female and 684 were gender third category voters. 18,833 polling stations were created for the second phase.
Out of 70 assembly constituencies in the state, 44 seats are reserved for general category while 17 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and nine seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Officials said elaborate security arrangements were made to ensure free, fair and peaceful voting. A total of 90,272 polling personnel were deployed for the poll.
The main contest in the state is between Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress, but according to political experts, the contest is likely to be triangular on many seats in Bilaspur division.
Jogi’s party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have a significant presence in some seats of this division. Aam Aadmi Party (‘AAP’) had also campaigned in this area.
In the second phase, eight ministers of the state including Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel (Patan), Assembly Speaker Charandas Mahant (Sakti), Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo (Ambikapur), Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu (Durg Rural) and Ravindra Choubey (Saja) are from the Congress side. Fate stopped in EVM.
On behalf of BJP, State President and MP Arun Sao (Lormi), Leader of Opposition Narayan Chandel (Janjgir-Champa), Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh (Bharatpur-Sonhat-ST), MP Gomti Sai (Pathalgaon-ST), senior MLA and former minister Brijmohan Agarwal (Raipur South), Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud) and Punnulal Mohile (Mungeli) are the major candidates in the second phase.
In Ambikapur, BJP has fielded newcomer Rajesh Aggarwal against T S Singh Deo. Aggarwal left Congress and joined BJP before the assembly elections in 2018.
The first phase of elections for 20 seats in the state was held on November 7, in which 78 percent voters exercised their franchise. Counting of votes in the state will be done on December 3.
In the last elections, Congress had got 68 seats in the state and BJP was reduced to 15 seats. In that election, JCC (J) got five seats and BSP got two seats. Congress currently has 71 MLAs.
Language Sanjeev Simmi
Simmi
