Chhattisgarh: The first round of voting in the assembly elections has begun

 Chhattisgarh: The first round of voting in the assembly elections has begun

In ten of the twenty assembly seats holding first-phase elections, polls opened at seven in the morning. At 3 p.m., it will finish.

In the first round of Chhattisgarh's assembly elections, voting got underway on Tuesday morning under heavy security from police and paramilitary forces, who maintained a close check on the seats in the Naxalite-affected Bastar division.

In ten of the twenty assembly seats holding first-phase elections, polls opened at seven in the morning. At 3 p.m., it will finish.

Here are all the developments on the Assembly Elections of 2023.

According to an official, voting in the first phase's ten remaining seats will begin at 8 a.m. and finish at 5 p.m.

223 candidates, including 25 women, are running for 20 of the 90 assembly seats in the first round, and 40,78,681 people are entitled to cast ballots based on electoral records.

The two major parties vying for control of the state are the opposition BJP and the incumbent Congress.

Voters in seats included in the first round of polling are more female than male. There are 20,84,675 female voters registered, compared to 19,93,937 male voters. Additionally, 69 votes identify as third gender.

For the first phase of the election, a total of 5,304 polling stations and 25,249 poll workers have been deployed.

"Polling in nine seats in the Naxalite-hit Bastar division as well as additional Maoist-affected constituency Mohla-Manpur (in adjoining Durg division) started at 7 am and will end at 3 pm. Polling in the remaining ten seats will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the official.

Because of the Naxal danger, polling is being conducted in these ten constituencies: Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur, and Konta. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Voting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the eleven remaining constituencies: Khairgarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur, Chitrakot, Pandariya, as well as Kawardha.

For the peaceful running of the elections in the 12 assembly parts of the Bastar division, over 60,000 security personnel—40,000 belonging to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) as well as 20,000 from the state police—have been deployed, according to the police.

According to them, around one lakh security guards have been assigned for the first round of voting.

They added that 149 voting places in five assembly seats of the Bastar division have been moved to the closest security camps and police station for security-related reasons.

According to the police, bomb disposal teams and dog squads will be sent in if needed, while drones and helicopters are being used to monitor naxal activity.

Twelve of the twenty seats are set aside for Scheduled Tribes, while one is set up for Scheduled Castes. According to polling authorities, Rajnandgaon has the most candidates (29), while Chitrakot and Dantewada have the fewest (seven apiece).

Prominent candidates compared to the ruling party in the first phase include Deepak Baij (Chitrakot), MP and chief of the Chhattisgarh Congress, state ministers Kawasi Lakhma (Konta), Mohan Markam (Kondagaon), along with Mohammad Akbar (Kawardha), along with Chhavindra Karma (Dantewada), son of late party leader Mahendra Karma.

Former chief minister Raman Singh is running for the BJP from Rajnandgaon opposite Girish Dewangan, the head of the Chhattisgarh State Mineral Development Corporation, who is running for the Congress.

Neelkanth Tekam, a retired IAS officer representing Keshkal, and four former ministers, Lata Usendi (Kondagaon), Vikram Usendi (Antagarh), Kedar Kashyap (Narayanpur), as well as Mahesh Gagda (Bijapur), are among the other notable contenders from the saffron party.

Chief of the Aam Aadmi Party's state branch, Komal Hupendi, is contesting from Bhanupratappur, while incumbent MLA Anup Nag is running as an Independent from Antagarh after the Congress refused to give him a ticket.

On November 17, the 90-member state legislature will have its second and final round of voting for the remaining 70 seats.