Chhattisgarh municipal polls: Polling underway, results on Dec 23

A total of 15 per cent voting has taken place in Bijapur till 9 am. Whereas in Raipur so far 7 per cent of voting has taken place. On the other hand, there is news of overall 7 per cent voting till 9 pm in Municipal Corporation Bhilai, Bhilai Charoda, Risali and Municipality Jamul.

Raipur:A total of 15 per cent voting has taken place in Bijapur till 9 am whereas in Raipur so far 7 per cent voting has taken place. On the other hand, there is news of overall 7 per cent voting till 9 pm in Municipal Corporation Bhilai, Bhilai Charoda, Risali and Municipality Jamul.

Battle of the ballot is going on in Chhattisgarh, as polling is underway for 15 urban bodies, including four municipal corporations, on Monday. The State Election Commission is also conducting simultaneous by-elections in 15 wards of different urban bodies. Similarly, voting is also underway for five municipal councils and six Nagar Panchayats. According to the SEC, over 1,393 candidates are contesting in the polls.

The municipal corporation elections are being conducted for Birgaon (Raipur district), Bhilai (Durg), Risali (Durg), and Bhilai-Charauda (Durg). Following are the five municipal councils where elections are being conducted--Khairagarh (Rajnandgaon), Baikunthpur (Korea), Shivpurcharcha (Korea), Sarangarh (Raigarh) and Jamul (Durg)-- and the polling is being held in Bhairamgarh (Bijapur), Bhopalpatnam (Bijapur), Narharpur (Kanker), Maro (Bemetara), Prem Nagar (Surajpur) and Konta (Sukma) six Nagar Panchayats.

The counting of votes will take place on December 23. All eyes have been focussed on Durg, the home district of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, where polling is underway for three municipal corporations and one municipal council. Apart from the ruling Congress and opposition BJP, many Independents and rebel candidates are also in the fray.

The voting is being held using the ballot papers. According to the SEC, there are a total of 8,04,187 voters, including 4,00,219 men, 4,03,918 women and 50 from the third gender, who are eligible to exercise their franchise.

For the general elections to urban bodies, 1,000 polling stations have been set up while 35 polling booths have been set up for the byelections. As many as 4,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting, while 12,000 officers and employees have been roped in for the poll duty.