The second phase, that is, the last phase of polling in Chhattisgarh for the 90-member Assembly concluded at 5 pm on Friday. A voter turnout of 67.48 per cent was recorded till 5 pm across the 70 seats, voting for which were held today.
According to the Election Commission of India, the Dhamtari district recorded the highest voter turnout of 79.89 per cent, while the Raipur district recorded the lowest voter turnout. Voting for the second phase in Chhattisgarh was held amid tight security measures.
The electoral fates of heavyweights like the Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel, his deputy TS Singh Deo, eight state ministers and four members of Parliament will be decided by the voting held today. The first phase of elections were held on November 7.
Earlier, an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawan was killed in an IED blast carried out by Naxalites in Gariaband in Chhattisgarh.
Meanwhile, voting also concluded in Madhya Pradesh where a voter turnout of 71.11 per cent till 5 pm. Polling began in Madhya Pradesh at 7 am today to seal the electoral fates of 2,533 candidates in 230 assembly seats. Voting in Madhya Pradesh was held in a single phase.
Political bigwigs of the likes of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor Kamal Nath are in the fray. Polling was held till 6 pm in all the assembly segments except in Baihar, Lanjhi and Paraswada seats in Balaghat district, 55 booths in Mandla district's Bichhiya and Mandla seats and 40 polling stations in Dindori district, all Naxalite affected, where voting time is till 3 pm.
Besides Chouhan and Kamal Nath, three Union ministers from BJP – Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste – are also in the fray.
BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya contested from Indore-1 along with three Lok Sabha MPs of the party in Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak also contesting.
