Chhattisgarh polls: 33.86% voter turnout at 1 pm

Nearly 33.86% of the 3180014 registered voters cast votes till 1:30 p.m. in 18 assembly constituencies in the “red belt” of Chhattisgarh on Monday – defying the ultra-leftist extremists' call for boycotting the elections.

While 52.50 % of the voters at Mohala-Manpur constituency cast votes by 1:00 p.m., the turn-out was as low as 16 % in Bijapur. Nearly 24 % turn out was reported till 11: 00 a.m. in Rajnandgaon, where Chief Minister of the BJP-ruled State, Raman Singh, is contesting from. The turn-out was over 44.04 % and 46.04 % at 1:00 p.m. in Keshkal and Kondagaon respectively.

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The turn-out in Kanker, Dantewada, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakoot – hotbeds of ultra-leftist insurgency – were recorded at 34%, 39%, 36%, 33% and 37% respectively at 1:00 a.m, the Election Commission's officials stated in New Delhi.

Nearly 33 % of the registered voters cast votes till 1:00 p.m. in Konta constituency of Sukama district of the State.

The EC officials stated in New Delhi that 53 polling stations out of the total 4336 reported delayed start of polling due to "technical reasons".

The poll-panel did not provide details of the "technical reasons" that delayed the start of polling, which was scheduled at 7 a.m. in some constituencies and at 8 a.m. in others. But, according to the reports, delays were mostly caused by glitches in Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail devices.

Eighteen of the 90 elected seats in the 91-member State Assembly is going to polls in the first phase on Monday. The polling in the remaining 72 constituencies will take place on November 20.

Altogether 3180014 voters are expected to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of the 190 candidates, who are in the fray for the 18 seats in the State Assembly.

The votes for all the constituencies in Chhattisgarh will be counted on December 11, along with those in four other States - Mizoram, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.