Chhattisgarh polls: 67% voting recorded in first phase

Raipur: 67 percent of the 29,33,200 voters in the Naxal-affected Bastar region and Rajnandgaon district on Monday exercised their franchise in the first phase of Chhattisagrh assembly elections, where violence by Naxals who have called for a poll boycott, left a CRPF jawan dead. After a slow start, polling for the 18 constituencies picked up as the day progressed and the tribal-dominated region witnessed a large turnout amid high security across the region, which will decide the fate of Chief Minister Raman Singh and his three ministers. [caption id=“attachment_1223549” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Voters line up outside a polling booth during the first phase of polling. PTI[/caption] Rajnandgaon, the home constituency of Raman Singh, recorded the highest 79 percent voting out of 18 constituencies while one of the worst insurgency-hit Bijapur constituency witnessed the lowest 24 percent voting. Other constituencies where polling took place today are Bhanupratappur (70 percent), Antagarh (58 percent), Kanker (76 percent), Keshkal (77 percent), Kondagaon (78 percent), Narayanpur (62 percent), Bastar (60 percent), Jagdalpur (67 percent), Chitrakot (61 percent), Konta (40 percent) and Dantewada (67 percent) of Bastar region and Khairagarh (71 percent), Dongargarh (72 percent), Dongargaon (76 percent), Khujji (78 percent ) and Mohla-Manpur (75 percent) of Rajnandgaon. “As per the voting figures till 5 pm, 67 percent polling had been registered in the 18 constituencies and the percentage was expected to go up,” Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kujur told reporters. Amid tight security, polling in thirteen Naxal-hit constituencies of Bastar and Rajnandgaon concluded at 3 pm, while those in other five constituencies of Rajnandgaon concluded at 5 pm, he said. The polling figure may exceed the previous election of 2008 which had recorded 66.85 percent voting in these 18 constituencies as people waited to cast their ballot in several polling stations of five constituencies even after 1700 hrs, the time of close of poll. Re-polling will be held at two polling booths - Chhote Pakhanjore and Sitram – in Kanker district as polling officials could not reach there owing to Naxal resistance, Kujur said. Meanwhile, two polling booths in Panidobir area of Kanker were relocated to Gudabeda in Antagarh area due to Naxal threat, Kujur said. Zero polling was also reportedly recorded at 10-12 polling booths of Konta, Dantewada and Bijapur constituencies and further details in this regard will be known after polling officials of these booths return, he added. A senior police official said that Naxals ambushed a team of election personnel accompanied with security forces in Katekalyan area of Dantewada district in south Chhattisgarh, killing Central Reserve Police Force jawan B Joseph of 186 battalion. Also, over ten bombs, including a 10 kg pipe bomb, were recovered and a policeman was injured in a pressure bomb blast in the morning, the DGP said. While a pipe bomb was recovered from Murkinar area of Bijapur district, eight bombs were also found in Mangnar area and two in Kuwakonda area of Dantewada district during de-mining. Tiffin bombs were recovered in Orcha area of Narayanpur district and a bomb in Kanker district, the DGP added. A police personnel was injured when a ‘pressure bomb’ set by Naxals exploded in Kanker. Encounters between security forces and Maoists were also reported near a few polling booths in Dantewada and Bijapur districts of south Chhattisgarh. Rajendra Mahapatra, a presiding officer at Balinga polling booth of Kondagaon district, died of heart attack this morning, the official said adding that another official was deputed in his place. A total of 143 candidates from 12 constituencies are in the fray in Bastar division and six constituencies of Rajnandgaon district, which together account for an electorate of 29,33,200, in the first of the two-phase polls to the 90-member Assembly. Maximum number of candidates had been fielded in Rajnandgaon and Jagdalpur (14 each). The fate of Chief Minister Raman Singh, who is hoping for a hat-trick this time, and three of his ministers – Kedar Kashyap, Lata Usendi and Vikram Usendi – would be decided in today’s polling. Singh contested from Rajnandgaon. In some places, relatives of the victims of the Naxal attack on Congress convoy in Jiram valley were in the fray. Of the total 4,142 polling booths set up for the first phase, 1,517 were deemed ‘sensitive’ while 1,311 were deemed ‘hyper-sensitive’. Cameras were installed in around 2,700 polling stations for video graphing the polling process. Last time, of the 18 seats, BJP had won 15 while Congress had won three. The remaining 72 constituencies, including Bilaspur and state-capital Raipur, would go to polls on November 19. A total of 562 companies (56,200 personnel) of paramilitary forces have been sent by the Centre for beefing up security in the state, in addition to the existing 40 battalions (40,000 men and women) of paramilitary forces. PTI