67 per cent polling in Chattisgarh elections

As against speculations, there was a good turn-out for the first phase of polling in Chattisgarh Assembly elections. According to EC there was 67 per cent voters turned-up for casting their votes, despite threats from Maoists, who gave a call for boycotting the polling in Bastar district.

It is to be attributed to heavy policing and enough security measures taken by the state government and EC. Polling in 12 constituencies in Bastar, which is ear marked as Maoist hub and 6 in Rajnandgaon went peacefully without facing any untoward incidents. However, a CRPF head constable BD Joseph, was killed in an ambush in Dantewada during this phase. He hails from Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu.

During the last elections held in 2008, Forty one people were killed in various incidents. So, the state government and EC had a sigh of relief as the first phase went off peacefully.They are now gearing-up to fave the 2nd phase of polling scheduled for 19th of this month.