Raipur, Apr 26 (PTI) A voter turnout of 73.05 per cent was recorded in three Lok Sabha constituencies, all having Naxalite presence, in Chhattisgarh in the second phase of polling on Friday, officials said.
However, the figure may go up as final data from several booths was yet to be received, they said.
While polling took place amid tight security, a policeman deployed on election duty allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with a service weapon in Gariaband district, they said.
Polling began in Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituencies at 7 am and was held in different time slots.
Of the eight assembly segments in the Kanker Lok Sabha constituency, polling ended at 3 pm in Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Keshkal and Kanker, while in Sihawa, Sanjari-Balod, Daundilohara and Gunderdehi it concluded at 6 pm, an official said.
In Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, polling in Manpur-Mohla assembly segment ended at 3 pm, and at 6pm in seven other assembly segments, he said.
Polling was held in Mahasamund constituency till 6 pm, though it ended at 3pm in nine sensitive polling booths in Bindranawagarh assembly segment.
“The Scheduled Tribe-reserved Kanker seat recorded 74.60 per cent turnout, Mahasamund 71.13 per cent and Rajnandgaon 73.48 per cent. In the 2019 polls, voter turnout in Kanker Lok Sabha seat stood at 74.27 per cent, Mahasamund at 74.51 per cent and Rajnandgaon at 76.04 per cent,” the official informed.
State assembly speaker and former chief minister Raman Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, former MP Abhishek Singh cast their votes in Kawardha town (Rajnandgaon seat), BJP candidate Santosh Pandey and his wife at Sahaspur-Lohara in Rajnandgaon, BJP candidate Rupkumari Chaudhary in Harratar village in Mahasamund, BJP candidate Bhojraj Nag and his wife at Antagarh in Kanker and Congress candidate Biresh Thakur in Korar in Kanker.
According to police, a Madhya Pradesh Special Armed Force jawan deployed on poll duty allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle at a government school where he was stationed in Gariaband district under Mahasamund Lok Sabha seat.
Meanwhile, a polling booth at Sivni village in Balod district (Kanker seat) was decorated like a wedding ‘mandap’, with display of rituals of traditional weddings. Brides and grooms dressed in their wedding finery cast votes at several polling booths through the day.
Former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, the Congress’ candidate in Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat, said he received complaints that his photos on the Electronic Voting Machines are smaller and unclear as compared to those of his rivals.
In a post on his ‘X’ handle, Baghel said, “Voters have been calling and complaining that photos of other candidates on the EVM are bigger in size and clear but my photo is small and relatively unclear. The photo was given as requested by the Election Commission.” “This exposes @ECISVEEP’s claims of impartiality. Has this been done under a conspiracy? But this is not going to change the result,” he added.
In another post, Baghel accused the BJP workers of stopping him from entering a polling booth in Tedesara village in Rajnandgaon seat and misbehaving with him.
The Rajnandgaon district unit of BJP, on the other hand, accused Baghel of violating the model code of conduct.
Baghel with a convoy of more than ten vehicles visited Rajnandgaon constituency throughout the day and kept entering polling booths along with several people from Durg, Bhilai and Raipur, the BJP alleged in a statement.
“When Baghel was entering the polling booth along with hundreds of people in Tedesara, BJP workers, including women, objected to it and asked him to enter only along with his security personnel. Subsequently, Congress workers allegedly assaulted BJP workers, including women,” the statement claimed.
It said BJP leaders have submitted a memorandum to the election officer and Lok Sabha observer seeking action.
In all, 41 candidates are in the fray in three seats in a direct fight between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress. These comprise 15 in Rajnandgaon, 17 in Mahasamund and nine in Kanker Lok Sabha seat. There are 52,84,938 eligible voters, comprising 26,05,350 men, 26,79,528 women and 60 members of the third gender.
A total of 6,567 polling booths were set up, of which 23 were categorised as vulnerable and 458 as critical, the official said.
The high-profile Rajnandgaon seat is seeing a contest between BJP MP Santosh Pandey and Congress’ Bhupesh Baghel, former chief minister and incumbent MLA.
The ruling BJP has dropped its sitting MPs in Mahasamund and Kanker seats and fielded former MLAs Rupkumari Chaudhary and Bhojraj Nag, respectively.
The Congress has fielded former state home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu in Mahasamund and senior leader Biresh Thakur in Kanker seat.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP won nine seats while Congress bagged two seats in Chhattisgarh. PTI TKP NR NP ARU BNM
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.