67% TURNOUT IN CHHATTISGARH FINAL ROUND, A DROP FROM 71.2% IN 2019

RAIPUR: An estimated 67% of the nearly 1.4 crore electorate braved the scorching heat to exercise their franchise in the third and final phase of elections for seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday.

The final polling figure is likely to go up but it looks like a drop from the 71.2% recorded in 2019.

Ironically, polling in Maoist-affected areas in the first two phases had passed off without death or injury to any voter, but the final round was marked by a death due to cardiac arrest and nearly two dozen injuries in bee attacks.

An election official said that polling began at 7am and concluded peacefully at 6pm. As expected, polling was brisk in the morning hours and later in the evening as people tried to avoid the sun.

The third phase of polling covered 58 Vidhan Sabha segments across seven seats: Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba, Janjgir Champa (SC), Surguja (ST), and Raigarh (ST).

Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai and his family voted in his native village, Bagia, in Jashpur district in Raigarh constituency. “People’s response in the first two phases of voting and during the public rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and other leaders, and the impact of work done in 10 years of Modi government and three months of our government in Chhattisgarh, clearly indicate that we are going to win all 11 seats in the state,” he said.

Chhattisgarh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan and his wife cast their votes in Civil Lines, Raipur. The Governor emphasized the value of voting rights and appealed to people to elect the government of their choice. “People should not hesitate to visit the polling booth and cast their vote,” he said.

Chhattisgarh deputy CM Arun Sao cast his vote in Bilaspur. Other prominent leaders who exercised their franchise included finance minister OP Choudhary in Raigarh district and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in Patan region of Durg district.

Chief electoral officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale voted at Dharampura booth in Raipur.

In a Jashpur village, a 71-year-old man, Jartiyus Toppo, collapsed while waiting in queue outside a polling booth. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Doctors suspect cardiac arrest. He had come to the booth with his son on a motorcycle.

In two bizarre incidents, bee attacks put 13 voters in hospital. Eight people were injured in Aara village of Jashpur and five in Jawahar Nagar polling booth in Balrampur.

Residents of Dhumadand village in Koriya district boycotted the polls due to lack of roads in their region and held a protest around 100m from the polling booth, shouting, ‘no road, no vote’. Administrative and election officials managed to persuade them to withdraw the boycott.

In the initial polling hours, technical glitches with EVMs were reported in some polling booths of Raipur constituency. They were replaced.

Chief electoral officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale said 202 companies of central forces were deployed in addition to 60,000 district police and District Reserve Guards.

Raipur constituency has the highest number of candidates, 38, followed by Bilaspur 37, Korba 27, Durg 25, Janjgir-Champa 18, Raigarh 13, and Surguja 10.

The main contest is between BJP and Congress. The saffron camp won 10 out of 11 seats in the state in the 2004, 2009, and 2014 general elections, but nine in 2019. Both BJP and Congress are looking to improve their performance.

Among the high-profile seats are Raipur, where BJP education minister Brijmohan Agrawal is contesting against former Congress MLA Vikas Upadhyay, and Korba, where former BJP MP Saroj Pandey is facing Congress sitting MP Jyotsna Mahant. This election marks Agrawal’s first attempt at the Lok Sabha, having won eight consecutive assembly elections from the Raipur assembly segment.

Former Congress minister Shiv Kumar Deheriya is contesting from Janjgir-Champa (SC) constituency, where BJP has fielded a new face, Kamlesh Jangade.

Other notable candidates include Dr. Menka Devi Singh (Congress) and Radhyasham Rathiya (BJP) from Raigarh (ST), sitting BJP MP Vijay Baghel and Rajendra Sahu (Congress) from Durg, Chintamani Maharaj (BJP), and Ms Sashi Singh (Congress) from Surguja (ST), and sitting MLA Devendra Yadav (Congress) and Tokhan Sahu (BJP) from Bilaspur.