The first phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections witnessed 47.18 per cent voter turnout till 3 pm on Monday.

Electorates of 18 constituencies exercised their franchise to elect their representatives in the state assembly.

Till 10 am, the first phase had witnessed 10.7 per cent voter turnout.

Around 53 polling stations out of the total of 4,336 reported delayed starts due to technical reasons, however, 100 per cent polling stations have reported smooth polling with long queues outside.

Of 18 seats, 12 are Scheduled Tribe seats while one is a Scheduled Caste-reserved seat.

Also 12 of them are located in the sensitive Bastar region dominated by the Maoists.

The polling for remaining 72 seats will take place on November 20. The counting of votes will take place on December 11.

A total of 1,291 candidates are in the fray for the two-phased state polls. In the 2013 assembly elections, the BJP had bagged 49 seats, Congress got 39, Bahujan Samajwadi Party and Independent got one seat each in the 90-member House.

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