C’garh records 72% voting in Phase 2

New Delhi/Jhabua/Rewa, Nov 20

A turnout of 71.93 per cent was recorded till 6 pm in the second phase of Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday and polling remained incident-free, the Election Commission said.

Addressing a press conference here, Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha said the polling percentage for this phase was slightly higher than that recorded during 2013 which was 71.13 per cent.

Polling for as many as 72 seats was conducted in the second phase. Sinha said Tuesday’s election was peaceful and incident-free as elaborate security arrangements were made.

He added that a number of old voters, including those over 100 years of age, also exercised their franchise and the Commission had made arrangements for them.

The EC said with Tuesday’s polling percentage the total average turnout for Chhattisgarh has been 74.17 per cent, nearly three per cent less as compared to the 2013 elections which recorded 77.42 per cent. During the first phase of voting on November 12 for 18 seats in the Naxal-affected areas of the state, a total of 76.42 per cent polling was recorded.

Meanwhile in Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked people to vote “intelligently”, ensuring that “not even a single Congress candidate” was elected. Addressing a rally for the November 28 elections, Modi said the people of state had an opportunity to crush the Congress’ “ego”.

Targeting the Nehru-Gandhi family, Modi said: “History has shown us that however big a sultanate in Delhi is, its rule ends after four generations. Congress has also met the same fate... Congress is a party whose leaders are confused and the party is fused. They can’t pass current (power) to you.”

People in various states who knew what Congress did haven’t allowed it to return to power there, Modi said, citing UP, Bihar and WB as examples. “In these states, the Congress was struggling for over 30 years but people didn’t bring it to power,” he added.

Modi said he used the “bitter medicine” of demonetisation to bring back money into banking system and give “proper treatment to deep-rooted corruption system”. “We use poisonous medicine to eradicate termite. Similarly, I used note ban as a ‘tez’ medicine to treat corruption,” he said. — PTI