Chhattisgarh will have three-phase polling for its 11 parliamentary constituencies in April, as per the schedule announced by the Election Commission today.
"With the announcement of poll schedules, district election officers have been directed to implement the Model Code of Conduct in their respective regions," Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kujur told reporters here.
The worst Naxal-hit Bastar(ST) constituency will alone witness poll on April 10 in the third phase of general elections while three other Maoist-affected constituencies -Mahasamund (Gen), Kanker (ST) and Rajnandgaon (Gen) - will go to polls on April 17 in the second phase.
The rest of the seven Lok Sabha seats - Surguja and Raigarh (ST), Janjgir-Champa (SC), Raipur, Durg, Korba and Bilaspur (Gen) - will see polling on April 24.
According to Kujur, the gazette notification for April 10 polling in the state will be issued on March 15, with the filing of the nominations to begin on the same day. The last date for filing nominations will be March 22 and subsequently scrutiny of the nominations will be completed on March 24.
The contestants can withdraw their name till March 26 before the polling on April 10.
Similarly, the notification for the April 17 polling will be issued on March 19. Last date for filing nominations will be March 26 and scrutiny will be completed by the next day. The contestants can withdraw their candidature till March 29 following which the three constituencies will go to poll on April 17, he said.
Likewise, for the April 24 polling, the notification will be issued on March 29. Last date for filing nominations will be April 5 and scrutiny will get completed on April 7. The candidates can withdraw their names by April 9.