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Voting for the first phase of assembly elections began in Chhattisgarh at 7 am on Monday, which is being widely seen as a 'semi-final' ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While polling for 10 seats began at 7 am and will end at 3 PM, voting for the remaining eight seats started at 8 a.m and will go on till 5 p.m. A total of 190 candidates are in the fray in the 18 constituencies spread over eight districts where Maoists have been active for over a quarter century.The BJP, ruling the state since 2003, has 49 seats in the outgoing Assembly, the Congress 38 and the Bahujan Samaj Party one in the 90 member Assembly. The election will also see a formidable third factor in an alliance stitched by Mayawati's BSP with the Chhattisgarh Janata Congress of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and the CPI.
Chief Minister Raman Singh is vying for a fourth consecutive term and his main opponent is BJP-turned-Congress leader Karuna Shukla, a niece of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In the high stakes battle, Shukla, a former BJP Lok Sabha member, has taken on Raman Singh at his home turf Rajnandgaon.
LIVE UPDATES:
8:07 AM: PM Modi urges voters to turnout in large numbers
छत्तीसगढ़ में मतदान का आज पहला चरण है। सभी मतदाताओं से मेरा आग्रह है कि वे पूरे उत्साह के साथ लोकतंत्र के महापर्व में अवश्य भाग लें और भारी संख्या में मतदान करें।
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 12, 2018
8:03 AM: IED was triggered by Naxals on Tumakpal-Nayanar road at around 5:30 am to target security forces. No harm to security forces & polling party. Party safely reached to Nayanar polling booth No. 183 under PS Katekalyan: Devnath, AIG (Anti-Naxal Ops)
7:55 AM:
Sukma: A 100-year-old woman reaches a polling station in Dornapal to cast her vote in the first phase of #ChhattisgarhAssemblyElections2018 pic.twitter.com/A8W8zxpcxf
— ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2018
7:49 AM: Voting to start in 5 constituencies of Rajnandgaon & 3 constituencies of Bastar at 8 am in the first phase
Voting to start in 5 constituencies of Rajnandgaon & 3 constituencies of Bastar at 8 am in the first phase of #ChhattisgarhAssemblyElections2018; #Visuals from a polling station in Rajnandgaon pic.twitter.com/Tk2vmlQrL5
— ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2018
7:16 AM: The rest of the constituencies -- Khairagarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot -- will see polling from 8 a.m.
7:11 AM: 1-2 kilograms of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasted by naxals near Tumakpal camp in Katekalyan block in Dantewada as voting is underway for 10 out of 18 seats in the first phase
7.09 AM: The 10 seats where early voting is being held are-Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur, Konta, Mohla Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal and Kondagaon.
7:02 AM: Polling for rest of the seats will begin at 8 AM and end at 5 PM
7:00 AM: Voting begins for 10 out of 18 seats in the first phase. It will end at 3 PM
#Chhattisgarh: Voting begins for 10 out of 18 seats in the first phase of #ChhattisgarhAssemblyElection2018 pic.twitter.com/n3mXyn4Nhd
— ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2018
ALSO READ | BJP, Congress head for photo finish in battle for Bastar
The other constituencies that will see voting are Khairagarh, Dongargarh, Dongargaon, Khujji, Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Bastar, Jagdalpur, Chitrakot, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta.
Twelve of them are in the insurgency-hit Bastar region and six in Rajnandgaon district.
A total of 4,336 polling booths have been set up for the first phase of the state polls. There are 31,80,014 voters, including 15,57,435 males, 16,22,492 females and 87 of the third gender.
Nearly one lakh security personnel, including paramilitary forces, have been deployed across the state for the first phase.
These are in addition to the existing paramilitary personnel and 200 companies of state forces engaged in anti-Maoist operations in the tribal-dominated state.
ALSO READ | If elected, Congress will waive off loans of farmers, says Rahul Gandhi
Indian Air Force and BSF choppers have also been pressed into service.
The Maoists, who have asked people to boycott the elections, have triggered several attacks in the last few days killing several people including a BSF trooper on Sunday.
The campaign which ended on Saturday witnessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath raising the pitch for the saffron party.
Leading his party's charge, Congress President Rahul Gandhi attacked the BJP over corruption, agrarian distress and unemployment.
The second phase of the Chhattisgarh election will be held on November 20 and the votes will be counted on December 11 along with the Assembly polls of Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan.
Pundits are viewing this round of Assembly polls as a 'semi-final' before the country plunges into the Lok Sabha battle.