Raipur, Nov 5: Campaigning for the first phase of Assembly polls in 20 seats in Chhattisgarh ended on Saturday evening, with voting scheduled to take place on November 7.
The first phase of campaigning saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacking Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel over the alleged Mahadev betting app scam, while other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party spoke on religious conversion, deteriorating law and order and corruption. The Congress based its campaign on the slew of welfare schemes of the Baghel government for farmers, women, tribals and Dalits, and also attacked the BJP-led Centre for “handing over” resources to “industrialist friends”.
These 20 seats are in seven districts of the Naxal-affected Bastar division and four other districts, namely Rajnandgaon, Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Kabirdham and Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai.
Polling in Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta (all reserved for Scheduled Tribe category) constituencies will take place from 7am to 3pm, officials said.
Polling will take place between 8am and 5pm in the remaining 10 seats, namely Khairgarh, Dongargarh (Scheduled Caste), Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Pandariya, Kawardha, Bastar (ST), Jagdalpur and Chitrakot (ST), said a statement issued by the office of Chief Electoral Officer here.
“Polling parties are being sent to their destinations amid tight security since Saturday, particularly in Bastar region. Helicopters are being used to airlift EVMs, personnel and materials to polling stations in sensitive remote areas,” an official said.
“In total, personnel belonging to 156 poll stations in five districts, namely Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker and Narayanpur, will be dispatched using helicopters. This exercise started from Saturday,” he added.
In the first phase, the political fate of 223 candidates, including 25 women, will be decided by 40,78,681 voters, including 19,93,937 male, 20,84,675 female and 69 third-gender persons, while 5304 polling booths have been set up for the first phase, he said. (PTI)
