The second phase of the Assembly elections in 72 constituencies of Chhattisgarh recorded a 71.93% turnout till 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Polling remained incident-free as elaborate security arrangements were made, the Election Commission said.
At a press conference here, Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha said the polling percentage was likely to increase as the queues for voting extended after the designated hours. The turnout was slightly higher than the 71.13 recorded for the phase in 2013.
Mr. Sinha said many elderly voters, eveb those aged over 100, exercised their franchise. The commission said that with the interim polling percentage, the average turnout in the two phases came to 74.17%. During the first phase on November 12 in 18 seats in the Naxal-affected areas, a 76.42% turnout was recorded.
Congress’ complaint
Special Correspondent reports from Delhi:
The Congress lodged a complaint with the commission that a BJP candidate was caught with ₹2 lakh in cash and had been distributing money to voters on the eve of polling in the Samiri constituency.
The party flagged the recovery of an electronic voting machine from a headmaster in the Chirmiri constituency. “Can any officer, whether he is on election duty or not, take away an EVM, which is the property of the Election Commission, and keep it in his house,” Congress leader Sushmita Dev asked. The Congress cried foul since its party’s State in-charge, P.L. Punia, was refused permission by the commission to remain in Chhattisgarh. “Both the prabharis of the BJP are till now in Chhattisgarh. So the question is, ‘Are we seeing the bias is being played out by the authorities managing the election in Chhattisgarh, tilting towards BJP’,” Ms. Dev said.