58.19 pc voting till 3 pm in seven Lok Sabha seats of Chhattisgarh

Raipur, May 7 (PTI) A voter turnout of 58.19 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in seven of the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh, where polling was underway in the third and last phase of the general elections in the state on Tuesday, a poll official said.

Polling is being held in Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba, Janjgir-Champa (reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates), Surguja (reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates) and Raigarh (ST) seats.

“Polling in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies started at 7 am, and a voter turnout of 58.19 per cent has been registered till 3 pm. Polling is underway smoothly and peacefully,” the official said.

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and his family members voted in Bagia, their native village in Jashpur district in the Raigarh Lok Sabha constituency.

Talking to reporters, Sai appealed to voters to exercise their voting rights, and exuded confidence that the BJP will win all 11 Lok Sabha seats of the state.

“The feedback of polling in the first two phases for four Lok Sabha seats, the huge response of people during public rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and other leaders, and the impact of works done in the 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.

Asked about Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav favouring quota to Muslims, Sai said, “Their statements make no sense. These people have become extinct species. They indulged in corruption their entire life and have lost the public’s trust,” he said.

Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan and his wife cast their votes in Civil Lines, Raipur.

Talking to reporters, the governor appealed to voters to exercise their franchise to elect the government of their choice.

“Voting right is the most valuable right of a citizen, and my appeal to all people is that they must vote to elect the government of their choice. Nobody should refrain from coming to the polling booth and voting,” he said.

A 71-year-old man collapsed and died while standing in the queue to cast his vote in a village in Jashpur district under the Raigarh Lok Sabha constituency, officials said.

Jartiyus Toppo was waiting to cast his vote at polling booth no 303 in Jamtoli village when he collapsed, a government official said.

The man had reached the polling booth with his son on a motorcycle, he said.

The man was immediately taken to a room at the booth by poll and security personnel and later shifted to a nearby hospital in an ambulance. Doctors declared him dead on arrival, and prima facie, cardiac arrest seems to be the cause of death, the official added.

Meanwhile, 13 people were injured when swarms of bees attacked them in two polling booths of separate constituencies in north Chhattisgarh.

While eight electorates were stung by a swarm of bees at polling booth in Government High School in Aara village in Jashpur district under Raigarh Lok Sabha constituency, five persons sustained injuries in a similar incident at Jawaharnagar polling booth in Balrampur district under Surguja constituency, officials said.

“In Jashpur case, the injured were admitted to the district hospital in an ambulance. The injured in the Balrampur case were provided treatment at a nearby health centre,” they said, adding that their condition was stated to be normal.

The voting remained unaffected in the two booths and is underway smoothly, they said.

Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Bilaspur, state Minister O P Choudhary in Raigarh district, Congress candidate from Surguja seat Shashi Singh at Shivpur village in Surajpur district and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in Patan area of Durg district.

State Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain and his wife cast their votes in Devendra Nagar officers colony here, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale voted at the Dharampura polling booth, and Additional Chief Electoral Officer Nilesh Kshirsagar at Amlidih polling booth in Raipur.

Residents of Dhumadand village in Koriya under the Korba Lok Sabha seat have boycotted the elections, citing the lack of a proper road.

According to officials, security has been beefed up in the state with the deployment of 202 companies of the Central forces and more than 60,000 personnel of the police and district reserve guard. Altogether, 168 candidates, including 26 women, are in the fray in the third and final phase of elections in Chhattisgarh. The main contest is between the Congress and the BJP, which won 10 out of the total 11 seats in the three general elections from 2004 to 2014. In the 2019 polls, the BJP bagged nine seats, while the Congress got two seats. A total of 1,39,01,285 persons, including 69,33,121 men, 69,67,544 women and 620 members of the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the third phase. Raipur has the maximum number of 38 candidates in the fray, followed by 37 in Bilaspur, 27 in Korba, 25 in Durg, 18 in Janjgir-Champa, 13 in Raigarh, and 10 in Surguja. There are 15,701 polling booths in the seven constituencies, of which 25 have been categorised as vulnerable and 1,072 as critical.