Notification issued for first phase of Chhattisgarh elections; no nominations filed on day 1

The process of filing of nominations for the first phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly elections began on Friday with the issuance of notification, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said here. But no nominations were filed during the day, it said.

The Congress-ruled state will go to polls in two phases on November 7 and November 17, and votes will be counted on December 3. Polling will be held in 20 constituencies across 11 districts in the first phase. These include 12 constituencies in the Naxal-affected Bastar division.

There are a total of 90 assembly constituencies in the state. October 20 is the last date for filing of nominations in the first phase. Scrutiny of nominations will take place the next day, while the last date of withdrawal is October 23. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has so far announced candidates for 85 seats, while the ruling Congress is yet to announce any candidate.


Of the 20 seats going to polls in the first phase, 12 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) while one is reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) categories. In the previous assembly polls in 2018, the Congress had won 17 of these 20 seats, the BJP two, and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) one.

The Congress later won two more seats in bypolls. Prominent candidates who are in the fray in the first phase include former chief minister Raman Singh who is the incumbent MLA from Rajnandgaon; former state ministers Kedar Kashyap, Lata Usendi, Vikram Usendi and Mahesh Gagda, and former IAS officer Neelkanth Tekam.