Chhattisgarh gears up for polls amid Maoist violence

Rahul Gandhi waves to his party workers and supporters during a roadshow ahead of the Assembly elections, in Rajnandgaon. Pic/PTI

Amid threats of Maoist violence, 18 of the 90 constituencies in Chhattisgarh will go to the polls on Monday to elect a new Assembly in the first phase of a battle in which the Congress is desperate to end 15 years of BJP rule.

The election, widely seen as a 'semi-final' ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 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.

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. 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.

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 insurgency-hit Bastar region and six in Rajnandgaon district.

4,336
No. of polling booths that have been set up

31,79,520
Total no. of voters in the state

BSF jawan killed in Maoist attack
A BSF personnel was killed when Maoists detonated an IED, while a Maoist was gunned down in an encounter with the police in separate incidents in Chhattisgarh on Sunday, a day ahead of the first phase of Assembly polls in the state.

Congress exploits Vajpayee's name
The Congress, out of power in Chhattisgarh since 2003, is exploiting the name of BJP's iconic leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee to take on Chief Minister Raman Singh on his home turf Rajnandgaon. Raman Singh, the longest serving CM of BJP, is locked in a direct fight with his former mentor Karuna Shukla, niece of the late Vajpayee.

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