Raipur. In Chhattisgarh, more than 39 percent voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm in Raipur City South Assembly seat. This seat became vacant after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former state minister Brijmohan Agarwal resigned after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Raipur parliamentary constituency.
Election officials said that voting started at 7 am on Wednesday in Raipur City South Assembly seat. By 3 pm, 39.23 percent voters of the area had voted. Voting will continue till 6 pm. There are 30 candidates in the electoral fray for this seat.
Officials said that initially voting was slow but later long queues of voters were seen in front of the polling stations. During this time, women and youth voters also came to vote in large numbers. At the same time, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sunil Soni and opposition Congress candidate Akash Sharma reached their respective polling centers and cast their votes.
There are 30 candidates in the fray in the by-election, although it is believed to be a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.
BJP has fielded former Raipur MP and former mayor Sunil Soni, while the opposition has fielded young face Akash Sharma as its candidate. Sharma is the president of the state unit of Youth Congress. Officials said that there are a total of 2,71,169 voters in this constituency, including 1,33,800 men, 1,37,317 women and 52 transgenders. A total of 253 polling stations have been set up for the by-election. Five companies of security personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order. Counting of votes will take place on 23 November.