RAIPUR: The second and concluding phase of the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh concluded peacefully on Tuesday with a voter turnout of over 72 per cent when the figures were statistically calibrated at 6 pm, said the state’s electoral authorities. The first phase of the polls for 18 seats was conducted on November 12 and had seen an overall turnout of 76.28 per cent.
“The elections across the state remained incident free, peaceful. The final figure will rise as the polling process continued beyond 6 pm in several polling stations,” the state chief electoral officer Subrat Sahoo said.
The combined turnout of the two phases stood at around 75 per cent, which may rise further.
The voters queued up in large numbers outside polling stations since 8 am when the polling began. The Bindranavagarh seat recorded the highest voter turnout at over 83 per cent. According to Sahoo, problems were reported in a total of 114 ballot units, 89 control units and 370 Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines which interrupted voting in several stations.
The issues were resolved promptly, he added. An initial study showed that rural voters reportedly outnumbered the urban ones. The overall turnout, however, is likely to exceed the 77 per cent mark set in the 2013 polls. Both the BJP and the Congress interpreted the high turnout to be in their favour.
After casting his vote in his hometown of Kawardha, Chief Minister Raman Singh felt a triangular contest in at least 25-odd seats, with the Ajit Jogi-led alliance also in the fray, might lead to a division of votes which would benefit the BJP. “We are fighting the elections on development plank,” the CM said.
Former CM Ajit Jogi believed his new outfit, the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh will spring a surprise.
“The people are coming out to express their resentment against the bad governance and rampant corruption of the BJP,” asserted Congress president Bhupesh Baghel and expressed concerns over issues in EVMs. Meanwhile, two polling officers and two policemen were removed from election duty following complaints that they were working in favour of a political party.