The preliminary voting percentage in the second phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly elections on Friday, where the remaining 70 seats of the total 90 went to polls, stood at 74.27 per cent at midnight. In the 2018 elections, the overall voter turnout to the 90 seats stood at 76.45 per cent. In the first phase on November 7 when 20 seats went to polls, the final turnout was 78 per cent, a marginal rise of 1.53 per cent as compared to 2018. An Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) security personnel was killed and another injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast by Maoists as they were on their way back from a remote village. In another incident, 25-year-old Umendra Singh was trampled to death by an elephant in Korea district. A 58-year-old woman collapsed and died while standing in a polling booth in Kasdol, Baloda Bazar district. Apart from the three deaths, the EC said polling was peaceful. At a polling booth in a Raipur college, Himanshu Sahar who came to vote with three of his family members said, “I want our MLA to keep in touch with voters. Whichever party comes to power must keep all promises they made. Gunda raj needs to be controlled.” Voting took place across four revenue divisions of Surguja, Bilaspur, Durg and Raipur. While in Durg and Raipur it was mostly a BJP vs Congress competition, in Bilaspur and Surguja division smaller parties like Janta Congress Chhattisgarh-Jogi (JCC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) were in the fray. Two new tribal parties, the Hamar Raj and the Sarva Adi Dal were also in the fray while AAP is trying its luck again. EC said history was created when all 201 polling booths in Raipur north assembly constituency were staffed and managed by 1,046 women. In Korea district, the EC put up 11 booths in inaccessible locations in Bharatpur-Sonhat constituency where there were less than 100 voters.
