Chhattisgarh records 71 pc turnout

Raipur, April 18 (IANS) Chhattisgarh's three parliamentary constituencies - Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon and Kanker -- recorded nearly 71 per cent polling on Thursday in the second phase and election officials said the figure could rise once the final voting data is compiled.

The polling was largely peaceful barring an incident in Scheduled Tribe reserved seat Kanker where an assistant school teacher who was on election duty at Antagarh booth died after a cardiac arrest.

Maoists made a failed attempt to disrupt polling at Mohla area under Rajnandgaon seat by triggering an IED blast.

Chhattisgarh's chief electoral officer Subrat Sahoo said while quoting interim data that 71 per cent of combined 4,895,719 voters of the three constituencies exercised their franchise in a peaceful polling. 

The second phase of polling has sealed the fate of 36 candidates, 14 in Rajnandgaon, 13 in Mahasamund and 9 in Kanker.

Chhattisgarh has total 11 Lok Sabha seats and so far voting for four constituencies had been held, including Bastar, that went to the polls in the first phase on April 11. Voting for the remaining seven seats will be held on April 23.

The BJP had won 10 seats in the 2014 general election in Chhattisgarh.