A sum total of 190 candidates will stand for the Chhattisgarh assembly elections in the 18 of the 90 constituencies in Chhattisgarh, on Monday.
Seven of the Maoist-affected Bastar region and the Rajnandgaon district will vote on Monday in the 4,336 polling booths that have been set up for the first phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly elections.
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The total number of voters are estimated to be 31,79,520 voters with including 16,21,839 males, 15,57,592 females and 89 of the third gender.
10 out of the 18 seats, namely Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta, will vote from 7 am till 3 pm tomorrow. The voting time in districts including Khairagarh, Dongargarh, Khuji, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot will take place between 8 am to 5 pm.
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Close to one lakh security personnel, including paramilitary forces, have been deployed in the polling constituencies. The security has been tightened as Maoists have asked people to boycott the Chhattisgarh assembly elections. More than 12 helicopters will be available to reach polling booths in highly sensitive regions. Drones are also being used for security surveillance in Dantewada ahead of the first phase of voting.
Maoist groups have launched several attacks in the last few days in the region in Chhattisgarh killing several people, including a BSF jawan on Sunday.
The second phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly election will be held on 20th November 2018 and the counting of votes will take place on 11th December 2018 along with those of Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan.