Video Editor: Vivek Gupta
A three-way contest is in the offing as Chhattisgarh goes for the second and concluding phase of Assembly polls on Tuesday, 20 November, for 72 seats spread across 19 districts, with the ruling BJP wrestling it out with the opposition Congress and the Ajit Jogi-Mayawati-led alliance emerging as a formidable third front.
The fate of many high-profile candidates – including former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and his two family members, IAS-turned-politician OP Choudhry and Leader of Opposition TS Singh Deo – would be sealed in the EVMs.
According to Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), out of the 1,057 candidates, 130 of them have declared criminal cases against them. 18 of them are on Congress ticket and six of them on the BJP’s ticket. 15 belong to the newly formed Janta Congress Chhattisgarh, 17 to the Aam Aadmi Party while 36 of them are independents.
Meanwhile, ADR found out that 239 out of 1,057 have declared the value of their asset over Rs 1 crore. 61 of them are from the BJP while 53 of them are from Congress. Janta Congress Chhattisgarh has 35 crorepati candidates on its ticket while the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and Ambedkarite Party of India have 13, 12 and three crorepati candidates respectively. 42 independent candidates have also declared the value of their assets over Rs 1 crore.
Polling for 18 Naxal-affected constituencies took place on 12 November. The results for both the phases will be declared on 11 December.
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