Raipur: A three-way contest is in the offing as voting for the second and concluding phase of the Chhattisgarh elections began on Tuesday for 72 seats spread across 19 districts, with the ruling BJP wrestling it out with the opposition Congress and the Ajit Jogi-Mayawati-led alliance emerging as a formidable third front. A total of 1,079 candidates are in the fray, and both Congress and BJP are contesting all the 72 seats in the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections.
The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting for 25 seats and its ally and former Chief Minister Jogi's Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) is vying in 46 seats. The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded candidates in 66 constituencies.
Polling will be held from 8 am to 5 pm in all 72 seats where an electorate of over 1.5 crore, including over 77 lakh male and over 76 lakh female voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. There are nearly 1,000 voters from the third gender.
Here are the LIVE updates on the voting underway for the Chhattisgarh Elections:
Nov 20, 2018 15:50 (IST)
45.2 % voting recorded till 2:55 PM in the second phase of voting in Chhattisgarh: news agency ANI
Nov 20, 2018 14:47 (IST)
Nearly 25.2 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise till 12.30 pm in the second and final phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly election on Tuesday, an election official said, according to news agency Press Trust of India.
Nov 20, 2018 08:55 (IST)
There are 119 women contestants while the maximum number of candidates are in Raipur city south constituency where 46 nominees are in the fray, according to the Press Trust of India.
The least number of candidates are in Bindranavagarh seat 6.
The fate of the state Assembly speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal (Kasdol constituency) and 9 ministers- Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur city south seat), Rajesh Munat (Raipur city west), Amar Agrawal (Bilaspur), Bhaiyyalal Rajwade (Baikunthpur), Ramsevak Paikra (Pratappur), Punnulal Mohile (Mungeli), Prem Prakash Pandey (Bhilai Nagar), Dayaldas Baghel (Nawagarh) and Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud) besides party state president Dharamlal Kaushik (Bilha) will be decided in this phase, a PTI report said.
Besides, Congress state chief Bhupesh Baghel (Patan constituency), leader of opposition TS Singhdeo (Ambikapur), Congress MP from Durg Lok Sabha seat Tamradhwaj Sahu (Durg rural), former union minister Charandas Mahant (Shakti) are among the key Congress candidates who are contesting in the final phase.
Nov 20, 2018 07:05 (IST)
Elaborate security arrangements including more than one lakh personnel, helicopters and drones have been put in place for the elections today. After a promising 76.28 per cent turnout in the 18-seat first phase in Maoist affected areas, the second phase will see voting for 72 seats spread across 19 districts.