By Sahar Khan
Madhya Pradesh assembly polls covering 230 seats saw over 71 percent voter turnout on Friday. The polling began at 7 in the morning and continued till 6 pm in all assembly constituencies barring those in the Maoist-affected areas. The polling in MP sealed the electoral fate of 2533 candidates, including the political heavyweights like CM Shivraj Singh and his arch rival Kamal Nath, in 230 seats.
In Chhattisgarh the second and final phase of polling in 70 assembly segments remained peaceful except for an incident of a Naxal-detonated IED blast that killed a head constable of ITBP on Friday. The jawan was part of ITBP company offering security cover to the polling staff at Gariyaband district.
According to the Chhattisgarh chief electoral officer Reena Baba Saheb Kangale, the voter turnout was around 70 percent in the second phase.
According to the ECI, the turnout percent figure on voting is tentative and is likely to rise when reports from all polling stations including the interior polling stations are obtained.
In both MP and Chhattisgarh, the poll is largely seen as a bipolar contest between the Congress and the BJP.
The presence of youths and women who exercised their franchise in several constituencies remained conspicuous.
The rural voters in the majority of the assembly segments outnumbered the urban to add encouraging turnout.
Special efforts by Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure participation of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) bore good results.
Creating history, for the first time, all the polling booths in the Raipur North Assembly segment in Chhattisgarh were staffed and managed completely by women polling personnel. To achieve this feat, which is a first for any Assembly constituency in the country, 1046 women were deployed in the 201 polling booths setup in the constituency.
With a concerted effort to facilitate voting among the tribal communities, 100 percent enrolment was achieved among the PVTGs residing in MP and Chhattisgarh.
The issues for the people during the second phase remained focused around development, education, agriculture/ farmers, health, employment besides the local concerns and demands.
