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Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges people to vote in large numbers as voting begins in Mizoram and in 20 assembly seats of Chhattisgarh.
Voting began Tuesday morning in the first phase of Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh under a thick security blanket of police and paramilitary personnel, who kept a tight vigil in the seats in Naxalite-hit Bastar division.
In Chhattisgarh, it is the first phase polling in 20 of 90 seats which is to decide the fate of 223 candidates. The seats going to vote today are spread across naxal affected districts of Bastar, Dantewada, Rajnandgaon and Kanker.
Among the prominent candidates contesting in the first phase Chhattisgarh voting are former Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh and Deepak Baij, who is state Congress chief.
While the contest is largely seen as between BJP and Congress, there are many smaller or regional political parties in the fray with their set of candidates.
Corruption and welfarism are among the prominent promises by the major parties on which they are trying to woo the voters.
In the first phase Chhattisgarh vote
Total voters—40,78,681
Male voters—19,93,937
Female voters—20,84,675
Third gender—69
18-19 age group voters—1,64,299
Differently abled voters—30,919
80+ age group voters—27,918
100+ age group voters—-296
Service Voters—-4515 voters
Gender Ratio—1046
Avg number of voters per polling booth—-769
