The Maoist-affected Bastar division's 12 assembly segments are among the 20 seats going to polls on Tuesday in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections.
In the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly, 20 seats are going to vote on Tuesday and the rest 70 seats would go to polls on November 17 in the second phase.
With the coming together of Opposition parties in the INDIA coalition and the defeat of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, Congress is looking forward to retain Chhattisgarh and set the tone for the 2024 general elections.
The Chhattisgarh assembly elections are taking place amid tight security arrangements. Around 60,000 security forces personnel have been deployed for the 20 seats and yet incidents of blasts and at least one political murder has taken place.
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Chhattisgarh elections fast facts
Of the 90 Chhattisgarh assembly constituencies, 20 are going to polls on Tuesday. Twelve of these are in the Bastar division, a traditional hotbed of Maoist violence.
A total of 5,304 polling booths have been set up in the 20 assembly segments for an estimated number of 40,78,681 voters. They would decide the fate of 223 candidates. Among the major candidates are former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister of BJP Raman Singh (Rajnandgaon), Chhattisgarh Congress chief and MP Deepak Baij (Chitrakot) and ministers Kawasi Lakhma (Konta), Mohan Markam (Kondagaon) and Mohammad Akbar (Kawardha) as well as Chhavindra Karma (Dantewada). BJP's former ministers Lata Usendi (Kondagaon), Vikram Usendi (Antagarh), Kedar Kashyap (Narayanpur) and Mahesh Gagda (Bijapur) are also in the fray.
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To conduct the elections, the Election Commission has deployed more than 25,000 personnel. The voting will take place during 7 am to 5 pm in two batches.
As per the PTI, the following seats would have voting during 7am-3pm: Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta. The following seats would have voting during 8am-5pm: Khairagarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Pandariya and Kawardha Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot.
The second phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly elections would take place on November 17 when the remaining 70 seats would go to polls.
In the 2018 Chhattisgarh elections, the Congress party won a landslide victory with 68 seats and drove the BJP to irrelevance with just 15 seats. Currently, Congress has 71 MLAs in the assembly and the BJP has 13, according to the assembly website.
60,000 security personnel deployed, precautions taken
Around 60,000 security personnel have been deployed across the 20 assembly segments going to polls on Tuesday, which include around 40,000 personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs). The elections would be held in a three-tier security cover.
The CAPF personnel would also include the counter-Maoist COBRA commando units. At some booths, women commandos would also be deployed.
A total of 149 voting booths have been shifted to nearby police stations and security camps for security reasons, reported PTI. These booths are in Bijapur, Narayanpur, Antagarh, Dantewada, and Konta assembly constituencies,
The PTI reported that Maoist activities will be monitored through drones and helicopters and bomb disposal team and dog squad will also be roped in.
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IED blasts, BJP's leaders killing before voting
Despite such security arrangements have been made in Chhattisgarh for assembly elections, a murder of a BJP leader and an attack on polling personnel have been reported.
The police said that Maoists, who have called for the boycott of elections, killed a BJP leader on Saturday. The leader has been identified as Ratan Dubey, the BJP's Narayanpur district unit vice president and the area's Assembly convenor. He was hacked to death with a sharp edged weapon in the market at Kaushalnagar village, reported PTI.
In an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion on Monday, two polling personnel and a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan were injured.
