Raipur: An average voter turnout of 72.19 per cent was recorded in 173 urban bodies, including prominent Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur municipal corporations, in Chhattisgarh where polling was held amid tight security on Tuesday.
The fate of over 10,000 candidates, including those from main rivals Congress and the BJP, was locked in EVMs and the results will be announced on February 15.
The elections were held in 10 municipal corporations, 49 councils and 114 Nagar Panchayats in which 72.19 per cent voter turnout was recorded, said a state election official here.
The polling was held from 8 am to 5 pm.
Korea district recorded the highest voter turnout at 84. 97 per cent in the state while Bilaspur district saw the lowest turnout at 51.37 per cent.
Voting for by-polls to five wards in Sukma and Durg civic bodies was also held, he said.
"The voting process was by and large peaceful in all polling stations. Polling parties have started returning to the strong room in their respective areas to submit EVMs", he added.
The main fight was between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. However, a large number of independent and rebel candidates from national parties were also in the fray.
There were 44,90,360 eligible voters, comprising 22,08,625 men, 22,81,226 women and 509 third-gender persons. A total of 5,970 polling stations were set up for general elections. Twenty polling booths were set up for by-polls, he said.
The Raipur Municipal Corporation saw a contest between BJP's Meenal Choubey and Congress' Dipti Dubey for the post of mayor. Dipti Dubey is the wife of former mayor Pramod Dubey.
In the Rajnandgaon Municipal Corporation, the BJP fielded former MP Madhusudan Yadav against Congress' Nikhil Dwivedi for the post of mayor.
The Ambikapur Municipal Corporation saw a fight between Congress' Dr Ajay Tirkey and BJP's Manjusha Bhagat for the post of mayor.
In 2019-20, the elections to 151 urban bodies recorded 66.05 per cent voter turnout. In the last urban body polls (2019-2020), the then-ruling Congress in the state had captured mayoral posts in all 10 municipal corporations.
