Raipur, April 17 (IANS) Balloting was moderate in Chhattisgarh’s three Lok Sabha constituencies Thursday, marking the second phase of polling in the state.
Polling was held in Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon and Kanker and will be held in the remaining seven constituencies on April 24.
About 40 percent voting took place till 2 p.m. in the three constituencies, an official said.
Voting came to a close at 3 p.m. in parts of Rajnandgaon and Kanker seat, which are Maoist affected. Balloting, however, will continue to 6 p.m. in the rest of the areas.
Long queues were seen in Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund constituencies while balloting was sluggish in Kanker, which is part of the southern restive Bastar region.
Voting was largely peaceful.
A total of 4,558,873 electors, including 2,277,408 women, are eligible to elect their representatives to the Lok Sabha from among the 50 candidates in the fray in the second round of polling in the state.
Balloting is being held in 6,114 polling stations. A total of 29,350 poll officials have been tasked with conducting the election.
The state’s first phase of voting took place for the Bastar Lok Sabha seat. The voter turnout there was 46.55 percent.
Ajit Jogi, who was Chhattisgarh’s first chief minister when it was carved out of the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh, is locked in a direct contest in Mahasamund with the BJP’s sitting MP, Chandulal Sahu, a local heavyweight of OBC community that makes up roughly 50 percent of the state’s 2.55 crore population.
Jogi won Mahasamund seat in 2004 by over 1.25 lakh votes, defeating nine-time MP V.C. Shukla, who contested on a BJP ticket, on his home turf.
Jogi suffered a near-fatal road accident in the 2004 poll campaign and since then he is bound to a wheelchair.
Raman Singh, who is heading the BJP government since 2003, faces the popularity test in Rajnandgaon where his only son, Abhishek Singh, is making his electoral debut.
Abhishek, 32, holds an MBA degree in human resource. He is pitted against Congress candidate Kamleshwar Verma.
In Kanker, Raman’s former cabinet colleague Vikram Usendi, who suffered a crushing defeat in November assembly polls, is trying to revive his political career.
The BJP has dumped its four-time winner Sohan Potai this time from Kanker to bet on Usendi.
The Congress has fielded Phulo Devi Netam, who commands significant support in a large chunk of this Scheduled Tribes reserved constituency.