NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Saturday rolled out the final list of candidates for the first phase of the upcoming Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh. The voting for the first phase of polls will take place on November 12.
As per the data by the EC, 192 candidates are in the fray for the first phase of polls. Twelve of the eighteen constituencies going to polls in the first phase are located in the Naxal affected Bastar division while six are located in Rajnandgaon district. These include Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Bastar, Jagdalpur, Keshkal, Chitrakot, Dantewada, Bijapur, Konta, Khairagarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji and Mohla-Manpur seats.
While 231 candidates had filed their nominations, 38 candidates withdrew, the poll body said. As many as 30 candidates are contesting from Rajnandgaon constituency.
Voter awareness programme was organized at all nationalized banks in @BalodDist where many bank personnels & customers participated by taking pledge to vote with a recite “Vachan Matdaan Ka” & ensure Nirvachan 2018 Sugam, Sugghar, Samaveshi #ChhattisgarhVotes @SpokespersonECI pic.twitter.com/xTmv5NFYFx
— CEO Chhattisgarh (@CEOChhattisgarh) October 27, 2018
"As many as 421 candidates had filed their nominations for the first phase, but papers of only 231 aspirants were found valid in the scrutiny. Of them, 41 candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving 190 in the fray," a public relation officer of the office of state Chief Electoral Officer said on Saturday.
"As many as 421 candidates had filed their nominations for the first phase, but papers of only 231 aspirants were found valid in the scrutiny. Of them, 41 candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving 190 in the fray," he added.
The keenly-watched constituency will be Rajnandgaon, where CM Raman Singh of the ruling BJP and Congress candidate Karuna Shukla, niece of former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are in the fray.
The schedule for filing the nominations for the second phase was started on Friday and will end on November 2. The scrutiny of the candidature will take place on November 3 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is November 5. Voting in the second phase of polls will take place on November 20.
Under voter awareness campaign, demo on EVM & VVPAT was oragnized at @MungeliDist to spread awareness & motivate electors for Nirvachan 2018 Sugam, Sugghar, Samaveshi #ChhattisgarhVotes @spokespersoneci pic.twitter.com/CY9EXbDhad
— CEO Chhattisgarh (@CEOChhattisgarh) October 27, 2018
Counting for the elections in Chhattisgarh will take place on December 11 along with the counting for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.