The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday announced the poll dates for the 90 seats of the Chhattisgarh Assembly. Polling in the state will be conducted in two phases on November 12 and November 20, the Election Commission said.
"In the first phase, 18 constituencies of the southern part of the state, which are Naxal affected areas, the elections would be held on November 12,” said Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat while addressing a press conference in Delhi.
"Voting for the rest of the 72 Assembly constituencies would take place on November 20," he added.
The chief election commissioner further said the notification for the first phase will be issued on October 16, while the last date for nominations would be October 23.
The scrutiny of the nomination papers would take place on October 24 and the last date for the withdrawal of the nominations was October 26.
The notification for the elections in the rest of the 72 constituencies in the second phase would be issued on October 26, while the last day for nominations would be November 2.
The scrutiny of the nomination papers would take place on November 3 and the final date for the withdrawal of the nominations was November 5, the chief election commissioner said.
The counting of votes will be held on December 11.
Like Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is ruling Chhattisgarh for last 15 years. Chief Minister Raman Singh is heading the state since 7 December 2003.
The state Assembly has 90 seats.
Chhattisgarh will witness a triangular contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and Amit Jogi’s newly formed Janta Congress Chhattisgarh which has joined hands with Mayawati’s BSP.