Around 11 percent voter turnout was recorded in the first two hours of polling in three Lok Sabha constituencies of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, an officialsaid.

Voting in the second phase of polling in the state began at 7 am in Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund Lok Sabha seats, all having Naxal presence, amid tight security, the official at the state election office said. "Around 11 percent voting has been recorded till 9 am," he said.

A massive security blanket of around 60,000 personnel, and drones has been thrown around the three constituencies for polls.

A large part of the Kanker Lok Sabha constituency is Naxal-affected where security forces are maintaining extra vigil to ensure peaceful polling, the official said. Some pockets of Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund are also struggling with the Maoist menace.

The Kanker Lok Sabha constituency has eight Assembly segments and of these, polling in four - Antagarh, Keshkal, Bhanupratappur and Kanker - will be held from 7 am to 3 pm in view of the Maoist threat, the official said. In rest of the Assembly segments - Sihawa, Sanjari-Balod, Daundilohara and Gunderdehi - polling time is from 7 am to 5 pm, he said.

The maximum contestants - 14 - are in Rajnandgaon followed by 13 in Mahasamund and nine in Kanker. There are 36 candidates in the fray in these seats, but the main fight is likely to be between the ruling Congress and the main opposition BJP.

Bihar

About 9.2 percent of the over 86 lakh electorate in Bihar exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling in Bihar on Thursday, with reports of EVM malfunctioning and poll boycott in some booths.

Altogether 86.01 lakh persons are eligible to vote to decide the fate of 68 candidates in the second phase of polling in five Lok Sabha seats of Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnea, Banka and Bhagalpur."

9.19 percent of voting was recorded in the first two hours of polling in five Lok Sabha seats. Polling has been peaceful so far," an election official said.

Kishanganj and Banka recorded the highest turnout at 10.5 percent each in the first two hours, followed by Bhagalpur at 10 percent, Katihar at 8 percent and Purnea at 7 percent, the CEO office said.

Voting was hampered for a brief period at several polling stations at Masuria in Banka town, Kahalgaon assembly segment in Bhagalpur and Purnea, the official said.

Poll boycott was reported from a polling station in Amarpur assembly segment in Banka, he said.

Prominent candidates in the fray are Uday Singh, Tariq Anwar, Bulo Mandal, Jai Prakasj Narayan Yadav and independent candidate Putul Kumari in Banka.

First Published:Apr 18, 2019 10:28 AM IST