The 2023 Assembly elections began on Tuesday with the first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh. The state is voting in two phases with the second phase to be held on November 17.
20 constituencies of Chhattisgarh will go to the Polls on Tuesday. Chhattisgarh has a 90 member house. Most of the seats are in the Naxal affected belts with the districts of Bastar, Dantewada, Kanker, Kabeerdham and Rajnandgaon among those that will go to the polls.
Former Chief Minister Raman Singh who is contesting from his seat of Rajnandgaon is among the prominent faces in the fray in Phase 1. State minister Kawasi Lakhma is in the fray from Konta from where he is the sitting MLA.
In 2018 the Congress won 17 of the 20 seats that will go to the polls in Phase 1. BJP had won 2 seats while Ajit Jogi’s party had won 1 seat.
In 2023 the Congress has replaced 6 of the sitting MLAs in this phase while in the seat of Bahnupratappur the wife of late MLA Manoj Mandavi, Savita Mandavi will be contesting.
There are a total of 223 candidates in fray for 20 seats. 5304 voting booths have been set up by the election commission for this phase.
There are 40 lakh, 78 thousand ,681 voters in this phase. Of these there are 19 lakh, 93 thousand, 937 male voters and 20 lakh, 84 thousand, 675 female voters. In this phase 13 of the 20 seats are reserved for SC/STs. Overall in the state 29 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 10 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs).
As per the data from the Election Commission of India, in the election to the 90-member assembly, a total of 2,03,80,079 crore voters including 19,839 service voters will be able to exercise their franchise. There are also 790 gender voters in the state and 1,60,955 Persons with Disability voters, as per the data shared by the poll body.
Chhattisgarh has 2,63,829 electors in the age group of 18-19. There are 1,86,215 senior citizens above the age of 80 in the state. The poll panel said there are 24109 polling stations in the state as compared to 23,667 in 2018. To conduct free and fair elections in the state, Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been deployed to augment the local police force in the state.
Kanker Collector Priyanka Shukla said, “This time tight security arrangements have been made in the most Naxal-affected areas, while some polling centres will also be monitored with drones.” Polling teams reached all the polling stations of Kanker district on Monday.
Two special rooms have been prepared in Kanker and Antagarh. Teams have been sent from Kanker to Bhanupratappur assembly constituencies, which are the most Naxal-affected areas.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer, Chhattisgarh, a total of 223 candidates in the 20 assembly constituencies of the first phase, of which 198 are men and 25 are women, will contest the polls on Tuesday.
The Commission has also directed that, to the extent possible, at least one polling station each managed exclusively by women and Persons with Disabilities shall be set up in every Assembly Constituency in the state.
“Moreover, the Commission has directed that at least one Polling Station per district shall be managed by the Polling teams consisting of an available youngest eligible employee of that district,” read the ECI notification.
There shall be such randomization for Police personnel and Home Guards also, who are deployed at the polling stations on the poll day, as per ECI. The counting of votes is scheduled for December 3.