Chhattisgarh: 55 pc polling till 3 PM, 1 killed in accidental firing

Raipur: Nearly 55 per cent voters in 72 constituencies across 19 districts of Chhattisgarh exercised their franchise till 3 PM on Tuesday in the second and last phase of Assembly polls even as a man was killed in alleged accidental firing by a CRPF personnel at a polling booth.

"Around 55 per cent polling was recorded in 72 constituencies of 19 districts till 3 PM," Joint Chief Electoral Officer DD Singh told PTI.

A man was killed and another injured in an alleged accidental firing by a CRPF personnel at Bhindarwani polling booth of Saja constituency in Bemetara district this afternoon, he said.

Polling was withheld for about half-an-hour after the incident and later it resumed, he said. According to state DGP Ram Niwas, the incident took place when five people in an inebriated state reached Bhindarwani village and started arguing with a Central Reserve Police Force personnel who was on duty at the polling booth.

During the verbal spate, bullets accidentally went off from the rifle of the paramilitary personnel and hit the men, leaving one dead and another injured.

"The injured was admitted to Durg hospital," the DGP said, adding, the body of the deceased has been brought to Raipur for postmortem.

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident and the CRPF man has been removed from duty, he said. A total of 843 candidates are contesting with an electorate of 1,39,75,470 in the last of the two-phase polls to the 90-member Assembly in the state where BJP government, led by Chief Minister Raman Singh, is eyeing for a hat-trick against the Congress.

Governor Shekhar Dutt, Chief Minister Raman Singh, Assembly Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Ravindra Choubey exercised their franchise in their respective constituencies.

Governor Dutt cast his vote in Raipur city north seat where BJP's Srichand Sundarani and Congress' sitting MLA Kuldeep Singh Juneja are in a close contest.

Raman Singh voted at his hometown which falls in Kawardha constituency. On the seat, BJP has denied ticket to its sitting MLA and given opportunity to Ashok Sahu while Congress has pitted its senior leader Mohammad Akbar.

Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik exercised his vote in Bilha constituency. He had won the seat against Congress candidate Siyaram Kaushik by 6,070 votes in 2008 elections.

Congress has given another opportunity to Siyaram from the seat. Over one lakh security force personnel have been deployed across the state to ensure peaceful polling, which is taking place in central and north Chhattisgarh, where 72 candidates each from the BJP and Congress are in fray.

There are 75 women contestants. A maximum 38 candidates are fielded from Raipur city south constituency, while least - five - are in Saraipali.

The fate of Assembly Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik (Bilha constituency) and nine ministers, state BJP unit president Ramsewak Paikra (Pratappur), Leader of Opposition Ravindra Choubey (Saja) and former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi's wife Renu Jogi (Kota) will be decided in this phase.

Also, the son of late PCC chief Nandkumar Patel, Umesh Patel (Kharsiya) and Jogi's son Amit Jogi (Marwahi) are in fray in the second phase.

Security forces were directed to stay alert in some districts of Sarguja and Raipur divisions on inter-state border, where frequent movement of Naxals had been witnessed.

Of the total number of candidates, 71,39,631 are men, 68,30,179 women and 5,660 are service voters, while of the total 72 seats, 17 are reserved for Scheduled Tribe and 9 are reserved for Scheduled caste.

A total of 18,015 polling booths have been set up for the second phase, of which 4,594 are sensitive booths, while 1,398 are hyper-sensitive stations.

As many as 20,957 ballot units and 18,015 control units will be used in this phase. In 11 constituencies- Kota, Lormi, Takhatpur, Beltara, Chandrapur, Kasdol, Raipur city south, Durg city, Bhilai Nagar, Vaishali Nagar, Bemetara - more than one ballot unit will be used.

Three ballot units will be placed only in Raipur city south. Besides, 3,000 cameras will be used for monitoring during polling process, he said.

Around 80,000 officials have been involved in conducting the polling today. A record 75.53 per cent voting was recorded in first phase of polling held on November 11 for 18 constituencies of Naxal-hit Bastar division and Rajnandgaon district. Counting will take place on December 8.