PM Modi To Hold Rally At Chhattisgarh's Naxalite-Hit Kanker District Ahead Of Polls

This will be PM Modi's first public meeting in the Congress-ruled state after the announcement of the poll schedule.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally in election-bound Chhattisgarh on Thursday. This will be his first public meeting in the Congress-ruled state after the announcement of the poll schedule. According to a PTI report, the prime minister’s rally will be held at Kanker district that is going to polls in the first phase of two-phased polls in the state, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary reportedly said.

On Thursday, PM Modi is scheduled to arrive at the Raipur airport at 1:55 PM in an Indian Air Force aircraft, he will then leave for the Naxalite-hit Kanker in a helicopter. His rally is scheduled to be held at 3 pm in Kanker town, as per PTI.

The security has been tightened in the town, police said a massive security cover has been put in place at the rally venue.

As per PTI, a multi-layered security blanket, involving personnel of the state police and paramilitary force besides the Special Protection Group (SPG), has been put in place in the area, located around 150 km from capital Raipur in the north Bastar region.

After being in power for 15 years (2003-2018) under the leadership of Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh, the BJP suffered a massive defeat in the 2018 assembly elections at the hands of Congress and now it is looking to come back to power in the state.

Polling to the 90-member state assembly will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. Twenty seats falling in seven districts of Maoist-hit Bastar division and Rajnandgaon, Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Kabirdham and Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai districts will witness voting in the first phase while the remaining 70 in the second one. Votes will be counted on December 3.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will also be campaigning in Rajnandgaon and Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki districts of the state on Thursday.

Legislative assembly elections are scheduled to take place in five states next month. Mizoram will vote on November 7 while voting in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases on November 7 and November 17. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana will go to the polls on November 17, 25 and 30 respectively. The counting of votes will take place on December 3.