Chhattisgarh Assembly elections 2023: State records 70.60 voter turnout in second phase of polls
Polling in 70 constituencies started at 8 am and ended at 5 pm, except at nine polling booths in Naxal-hit Bindranawagarh seat in Gariaband district, where voting took place from 7 am to 3 pm due to security reasons, a poll official said.
Raipur: A voter turnout of 70.60 percent was recorded on Friday in the second phase of assembly elections in Chhattisgarh for 70 constituencies, where voting took place under a thick security blanket of police and paramilitary personnel, officials said.
An Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawan was killed in an explosion triggered by Naxalites in the state’s Gariaband district when a polling station escorted by security personnel was returning after conducting voting, they said.
Polling in 70 constituencies started at 8 am and ended at 5 pm, except at nine polling booths in Naxal-hit Bindranawagarh seat in Gariaband district, where voting took place from 7 am to 3 pm due to security reasons, a poll official said.
“An average turnout of 68.15 percent was recorded till 5 p.m. across 70 seats. However, this figure may increase as final data from various booths are yet to be received,” the official said.
The second phase of polls will decide the electoral fate of political heavyweights such as Prime Minister Bhupesh Baghel, his deputy TS Singh Deo, eight state ministers and four MPs.
In the 2018 parliamentary elections, a turnout of 76.62 percent was recorded in 72 seats in the second phase. This time, two of these constituencies featured in the first phase of elections on November 7.
The political fates of a total of 958 candidates – 827 men, 130 women and one transgender person – contesting 70 seats spread across 22 districts were locked in EVMs.
As many as 1,63,14,479 voters – 81,41,624 males, 81,72,171 females and 684 of the third gender – were eligible to exercise their franchise at 18,833 polling booths.
While a woman died of unknown reasons while standing in line to cast her vote at a polling booth in Kasdol constituency in Balodabazar-Bhatapara district, a man was killed in an elephant attack while he was on his way to a polling booth to vote. exercises its franchise in the district of Korea.
Bhupendra Agrawal, Returning Officer of Kasdol Segment, said the woman, identified as Sahodara Bai Nishad (58), fainted while she was standing in the queue waiting for her chance to vote at Polling Station No. 76 in Village Panchayat in Malda.
She was taken by her relatives with the support of polling officials to a community health center in Kasdol, where doctors declared her dead, he added.
In another incident, the man, identified as Umendra Singh (25), was trampled to death by an elephant near Mangora village under the Korean forest department, a forest official said.
According to preliminary information, Singh was on his way to the polling station to cast his vote and stopped when he saw a group of people who were on their way to view the pachyderm roaming the area, he said.
The elephant suddenly charged towards the crowd. Singh failed to escape and was trampled to death, he said.
CM Baghel cast his vote at Kuruddih village in his Patan Durg constituency, while Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan and his wife cast their votes in Civil Lines Raipur.
Speaking to voting reporters, Baghel expressed confidence that the Congress would win more than 75 seats (in the 90-member assembly) and said there is a one-sided fight in Patan segment.
In Baghel’s Patan area, the BJP fielded his distant cousin and party member Vijay Baghel. The candidature of state president Amit Jogi of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), son of former chief minister late Ajit Jogi, in Patan added a new dimension to the contest.
When asked about the possible triangular fight in Patan, CM Baghel denied it saying that it is people and farmers who are participating in the elections (on his behalf) and not him, adding that the fight is one-sided.
Deputy CM Singh Deo (Ambikapur) and state ministers – Ravindra Choubey (Saja seat), Anila Bhedia (Dondilohara), Amarjeet Bhagat (Sitapur) and Jaisingh Agrawal (Korba) and state Assembly Speaker Charandas Mahant (Sakti), who are Congress candidates from their respective segments, were among the voters who cast their ballots.
State BJP chief and MP Arun Sao, the party candidate from Lormi seat, cast his vote in Bilaspur segment. BJP MP and Union Minister Renuka Singh, party candidate from Bharatpur-Sonhat seat (spread over Korea and Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Baikunthpur (MCB) districts) cast her vote in Premnagar segment of Surajpur district.
The state’s Chief Electoral Officer Reena Baba Saheb Kangale cast her vote at a polling booth in Dharampura in the capital.
Of the 70 assembly segments up for grabs, 44 fall in the general category, while 17 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and nine for Scheduled Castes.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, Congress had won 51 of these 70 constituencies, while the BJP could win only 13. The Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) had won four seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) two. The Congress later won another seat in a bypoll.
Among the candidates, 70 each are from the BJP and Congress. There are 43 nominees from the AAP, 62 from the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and 33 from the Hamar Raj Party in the fray. The Mayawati-led BSP and the Gondwana Gantantra Party, a regional political group, are contesting in alliance and have fielded 43 and 26 candidates respectively.
While the main fight is between bitter rivals BJP and Congress, a three-way battle is planned in several seats of Bilaspur division, where former CM Ajit Jogi’s party and the BSP have some influence. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP also focused on seats in the division.
The first phase of elections for 20 seats in the Naxal-hit state, which has a 90-member assembly, was held on November 7 and saw a high voter turnout of 78 percent.