Chhattisgarh Election 2023 Phase 2 Polls Tomorrow: A total of 70 Assembly constituencies spread across 22 districts in Chhattisgarh will go to polls on Friday. Voting commences in all 70 seats from 8 AM and will continue till 5 PM, except nine polling booths in the Naxal-affected Bindranawagarh seat in Rajim district, where voting will be held from 7 AM to 3 PM.
The polling booths in Bindranawagarh seat are: Kamarbhaudi, Amamora, Odh, Bade Gobra, Ganwargaon, Gariba, Nagesh, Sahbinkachhar and Kodomali.
Chhattisgarh Phase II elections candidates:
A total of 958 candidates — 827 men, 130 women and one transgender person — are contesting for 70 seats spread across 22 districts. As many as 1,63,14,479 voters — 81,41,624 men , 81,72,171 women and 684 of third gender — are eligible to exercise their franchise at 18,833 polling booths.
At 26, the Raipur City West seat has the highest number of contestants, while Dondilohara in Balod district has the lowest count of candidates at four.
Among the candidates, 70 each are from the BJP and the Congress. There are 43 nominees from the AAP, 62 from the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and 33 from the Hamar Raj Party in the fray. The Mayawati-led BSP and the Gondwana Ganatantra Party, a regional political outfit, are contesting in alliance and have fielded 43 and 26 candidates, respectively.
Chattisgarh Phase II elections polling booths
More than 18,800 polling stations have been set up for the second phase of polling. Out of these, 700 are Sangwari polling stations, where only women polling personnel will be deployed.
Tight security arrangements have been made at the polling stations. Apart from local police, central security forces are also being deployed.
The counting of votes will be held on December 3, along with four other states – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.
Chhattisgarh Phase II election prominent candidates
Chief Minister Baghel (Patan seat), his deputy TS Singh Deo (Ambikapur), assembly speaker Charan Das Mahant (Sakti), eight state ministers, including Tamrdhwaj Sahu (Durg Rural) and Ravindra Choubey (Saja), are among prominent Congress candidates in the second phase.
From the BJP, state unit chief and MP Arun Sao (Lormi), Leader of Opposition in the assembly Narayan Chandel (Janjgir-Champa), Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh (Bharatpur-Sonhat-ST), MP Gomti Sai (Pathalgaon-ST), former ministers Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur South), Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud) and Punnulal Mohile (Mungeli) are among key candidates for the November 17 elections.
Of the 70 assembly segments up for grabs, 44 are in general category, while 17 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and nine for Scheduled Castes
Chhattisgarh Phase II election campaigning
The high-octane campaign, marked by bitter exchanges between the ruling Congress and Opposition BJP, for the second and last phase of Chhattisgarh polls ended on Wednesday evening.
The BJP’s campaign was virtually spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who addressed four well-attended rallies for the second phase and targeted Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel-led government over corruption, particularly the alleged Mahadev betting app ‘scam’ and recruitment scandal, and Naxalism.
Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, BJP president JP Nadda, and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma extensively campaigned for the saffron party as well.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and CM Baghel led the campaign for the ruling party and mounted a counter-offensive claiming their party is concerned about the interest of the poor, while the BJP-led Centre only works for the welfare of the rich.
Chhattisgarh first phase election overview
The first phase of elections in Chhattisgarh that took place on November 7 saw voting in 20 constituencies across seven districts of the naxal-affected Bastar division and four districts of Durg division. The voter turnout for the first phase of election stood at 78 per cent, higher than the voting percentage recorded in 2018 elections covering 18 seats, which stood at 76.47 per cent. The first phase of polls had sealed the the fate of 223 candidates.
In the previous assembly polls in 2018, the Congress had won 51 of these 70 constituencies, while the BJP ended up with 13. The Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) had bagged four seats and the BSP two. The Congress later won one more seat in a bypoll.