Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: With around 72 per cent voter turnaround, the second and the concluding phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections came to an end on Tuesday evening. The high octane electoral battle had the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) locking horns with both Congress and Ajit Jogi-Mayawati-led alliance to retain its government in the state. The second phase of Chhattisgarh elections witnessed polling for 72 seats spread across 19 districts with a total of 1,079 candidates in the fray. Amid allegations of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering and malfunctioning in several areas, the Election Commission (EC) said over 71.93 per cent turnout was recorded till 6 pm taking the overall turnout in the two phases to 74.17 per cent so far. The first phase of election in 18 constituencies across eight Maoist-affected districts of the state took place on November 12 and saw a 76.28 per cent voting. Despite several attempts made by Maoists instil a sense of fear among the voters, elections were largely peaceful and concluded on a positive note. An electorate of over 1.5 crore, including over 77 lakh male and over 76 lakh female voters, were eligible to vote.

Here are top highlights from the first phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018:

i. Chhattisgarh is witnessing a three-way electoral battle with all in stakes for BJP as it wrestles to retain its government against opposition Congress and Ajit Jogi-Mayawati alliance emerging as a substantial third front. Even the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party has fielded candidates on as many as 66 on constituency seats.

ii. Malfunctioning of EVMs were reported from several booths across Dhamtari, Jashpur, Raipur, Ambikapur, Khallari, Raigarh Patan, Sihawa and Korba, with the Congress accusing the state's ruling BJP of "electoral malpractices" and "attempting to disrupt" the poll process.

iii. Alliance of Jogi and Mayawati is also considered as a possible kingmaker in the state as vote share difference between the top runners BJP and Congress was less than one per cent during the 2013 Assembly elections.

iv. Among the prominent faces in the fray in the second phase for the Congress were Baghel (Patan), Leader of Opposition in the Assembly T.S. Singh Deo (Ambikapur) and former Union Minister Charandas Mahant (Shakti). For the BJP, the list included state Ministers Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur City South), Rajesh Munat (Raipur City West), Amar Agrawal (Bilaspur), and Prem Prakash Pandey (Bhilai Nagar).

v. For the BSP-JCC alliance, Jogi, his wife Renu Jogi and daughter-in-law Richa Jogi are in the running. Ajit Jogi has ruled Chhattisgarh for 3 years as Congress CM but was later defeated by the incumbent CM Raman Singh in 2013. Jogi has also said that he will not form any post-poll alliance with the BJP.

vi. Extensive security arrangements, including the deployment of helicopters and drones, were put in place for the balloting which took place at over 19,000 polling stations. Extra security was put in place in Maoist-affected Gariaband, Dhamtari, Mahasamund, Kabirdham, Jashpur and Balrampur districts.

(With agency inputs)