3 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh record 76.24 pc turnout in Phase-II

Raipur, Apr 27 (PTI) A voter turnout of 76.24 per cent was recorded in three Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh that went to polls in the second phase a day ago, an official said on Saturday.

"Voting was held in Kanker (Scheduled Tribe-reserved), Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituencies on Friday in the second phase of elections. It went off largely in a peaceful manner, and altogether 76.24 per cent voting was recorded in these three constituencies," state's Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale said in a statement.

In Rajnandgaon constituency, 77.42 per cent voter turnout was recorded, while 75.02 per cent was registered in Mahasamund and 76.23 per cent in Kanker, she said.

In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 74.95 per cent voter turnout had been recorded in these three seats- Rajnandgaon (76.04 per cent), Mahasamund (74.51 per cent) and Kanker (74.27 per cent).

Altogether 6,567 polling booths were set up in these constituencies and of them, 23 polling booths were categorised as vulnerable and 458 as critical.

The fate of 41 candidates, including former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and former state home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu, was locked in EVMs across the three seats, where the main fight is between the Congress and BJP.

The maximum number of 17 contestants are in Mahasamund followed by 15 in Rajnandgaon and nine in Kanker.

The high-profile Rajnandgaon seat saw a contest between BJP MP Santosh Pandey and Congress' Bhupesh Baghel, former chief minister and incumbent MLA.

The ruling BJP has dropped its sitting MPs in Mahasamund and Kanker seats and fielded former MLAs Rupkumari Chaudhary and Bhojraj Nag there respectively.

Opposition Congress has fielded former state home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu in Mahasamund and senior leader Biresh Thakur in Kanker seat. Thakur lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Kanker.

There are a total of 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh and the Lok Sabha polls are being held in three phases.

A total of seven seats, including Korba, Raipur, Bilaspur, Janjgir-Champa (SC), Durg, Surguja (ST) and Raigarh (ST), go to polls in the third phase on May 7 in the state.

Polling for the Naxal-hit Bastar Lok Sabha constituency was held in the first phase on April 19, and recorded a turnout of 68.30 per cent. PTI