Chhattisgarh Civic Polls 2021: Polling is underway in Chhattisgarh for 15 urban bodies including four municipal corporations today. The State Election Commission is also holding simultaneous bypolls in 15 wards of different urban bodies. Besides, voting is also underway for five municipal councils and six Nagar Panchayats. As per the SEC, over 1,393 candidates are in the fray.
The municipal corporation elections are being held for Birgaon (Raipur district), Bhilai (Durg), Risali (Durg), and Bhilai-Charauda (Durg). The five municipal councils going to the polls are Khairagarh (Rajnandgaon), Baikunthpur (Korea), Shivpurcharcha (Korea), Sarangarh (Raigarh) and Jamul (Durg). The six Nagar Panchayats are Bhairamgarh (Bijapur), Bhopalpatnam (Bijapur), Narharpur (Kanker), Maro (Bemetara), Prem Nagar (Surajpur) and Konta (Sukma).
The counting of votes will take place on December 23. All eyes have been focussed on Durg, the home district of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, where polling is underway for three municipal corporations and one municipal council. Apart from the ruling Congress and opposition BJP, many Independents and rebel candidates are also in the fray.
The voting is being held using the ballot papers. According to the SEC, there are a total of 8,04,187 voters, including 4,00,219 men, 4,03,918 women and 50 from the third gender who are eligible to exercise their franchise.
For the general elections to urban bodies, 1,000 polling stations have been set up while 35 polling booths have been set up for the byelections. As many as 4,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting, while 12,000 officers and employees have been roped in for the poll duty.