Ex-CM Baghel among 41 candidates in fray from 3 seats in Phase-II of LS polls in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Apr 25 (PTI) Amid enhanced security, three Lok Sabha constituencies – Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund – all facing the Naxal menace, in Chhattisgarh will go to polls on Friday, where 41 candidates are in the fray even as the straight fight is between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress.

Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and former state home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu are among the candidates who are in the fray from the Congress’ side.

“All the preparations have been done for conducting polling in Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon and Kanker (Scheduled Tribe reserved) seats going to polls in the second phase in the state on April 26,” state’s Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale said in a press conference here on Thursday.

Of the three seats, a major part of Kanker seat is Naxalite-affected, where extra vigil is being maintained by security forces while some pockets of Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund are struggling with the menace. she said.

The Kanker Lok Sabha constituency has eight assembly segments and of them, polling will be held in Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Keshkal and Kanker assembly constituencies from 7 am till 3 pm (in view of the Maoist threat), she said.

In the rest of the four assembly segments – Sihawa, Sanjari-Balod, Daundilohara and Gunderdehi, the polling schedule is 7 am to 6 pm, she added.

In Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, except Manpur-Mohla assembly segment where voters will be able to cast their votes from 7 am to 3 pm, all other seven assembly segments will witness polling between 7 am and 6 pm, she said.

The polling time in the Mahasamund constituency is 7 am to 6 pm, except in nine sensitive polling booths under Bindranawagarh assembly segment, where it will be held from 7 am to 3 pm, she said.

As many as 41 candidates are in the fray in three seats – 15 contestants in Rajnandgaon, 17 in Mahasamund and 9 in Kanker. Altogether, 52,84,938 voters, including 26,05,350 men, 26,79,528 women and 60 members of the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise, she said.

There are 7,363 service voters, 51,306 ‘divyang’ (differently-abled) voters, 1,62,624 voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years, 16,643 in the age group of above 85 years of age and 498 voters above 100 years of age, she said.

As many 6,567 polling booths have been set up in the constituencies and of them, 330 will be ‘Sangwari’ booths (managed by women personnel), 120 ‘adarsh’ polling booths while 28 booths will be managed by ‘diyangjan’ and 117 by youths, she said.

In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, 23 polling booths have been categorised as “vulnerable” and 458 as “critical”, she added.

A total of 32,907 polling personnel have been deployed for the second phase, she added.

Helicopters were used to ferry 72 polling personnel for 9 polling booths of remote and sensitive areas of Kanker seat and 15 polling personnel in two polling booths of Mahasamund seat on Wednesday, she said.

Remaining 6,556 polling teams will be dispatched to their destinations through buses on Thursday, she said.

A security blanket comprising 222 companies of personnel has been thrown around three constituencies for polls, she said.

Voting for all the 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh is being held in three phases. Naxalite-hit Bastar (ST) constituency witnessed polling in the first phase on April 19. Seven seats will go to polls during the last phase in Chhattisgarh on May 7.

The high-profile Rajnandgaon seat will see a contest between BJP’s sitting 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 Rupkumari Chaudhary and Bhojraj Nag there respectively. Chaudhary and Nag are former MLAs.

Opposition Congress has fielded former state home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu in Mahasamund and experienced leader Biresh Thakur in Kanker seat.

Thakur had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Kanker seat to the BJP nominee.

In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP had won 9 seats while Congress 2.

The high-octane campaign for the second phase of polls in Chhattisgarh saw acrimonious exchanges between the main rivals BJP and Congress over issues like corruption, Constitution and poll promises of the two parties.

The saffron party’s electioneering for the second phase saw rallies by prominent leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while for the Congress, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led the campaigning.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge did not make an appearance in the campaign for the second phase of general elections.

Modi and Shah targeted Congress over its remarks on the Constitution, its leaders skipping the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration ceremony, terrorism and Naxalism.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who addressed two rallies, mounted a counter offensive claiming her party was endeavouring to protect the interest of the poor while the BJP-led Centre wanted to change the Constitution and curtail people’s rights.