A voter turnout of 63.32 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in three constituencies with Naxalite presence in Chhattisgarh in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, an official said.
"Amid tight security, polling began in Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituencies at 7 am and was underway smoothly. Till 1 pm, 53.09 per cent polling has been registered," he added.
By 3pm, 63.32% voter turnout had been recorded.
Till 1 pm, the tribal-dominated Kanker seat recorded a 60.15 per cent voter turnout, followed by Mahasamund with 52.06 per cent and Rajnandgaon with 47.82 per cent, he said.
Among the prominent voters, state assembly speaker and former chief minister Raman Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma and former MP Abhishek Singh cast their votes in Kawardha town (Rajnandgaon seat); BJP candidate Santosh Pandey and his wife were at Sahaspur-Lohara in Rajnandgaon; BJP candidate Rupkumari Chaudhary was in Harratar village in Mahasamund, and BJP candidate Bhojraj Nag and his wife cast their votes at Antagarh in Kanker.
Of the eight assembly segments in the Kanker Lok Sabha constituency, polling began in Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Keshkal and Kanker assembly segments at 7 am and ended at 3 pm, while in Sihawa, Sanjari-Balod, Daundilohara and Gunderdehi it will conclude at 6 pm.
In the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, polling in the Manpur-Mohla assembly segment ended at 3 pm, and in the seven other assembly segments, it will end at 6 pm.
The polling time in the Mahasamund constituency was 7 am to 6 pm, except in nine sensitive polling booths under the Bindranawagarh assembly segment, where it will conclude at 3 pm.
Altogether 41 candidates, including former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and former state home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu, are in the fray in a direct fight between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress party.
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