A 100-year-old woman reached a polling station in Dornapal to cast her vote in the first phase of assembly elections in Chhattisgarh on Monday.
The woman, Vishwas, born around a century ago, was seen arriving at the packed polling booth with a walking stick in her hand. Her son supported her as she approached the queue at the station, news agency ANI reported.
In the first phase, people will vote in 18 seats spread across eight Naxal-affected districts on Monday amidst unprecedented security with deployment of over a lakh security personnel and aerial surveillance. The second phase of polling in 72 seats, out of the 90-member Assembly, would be held on November 20 and counting of votes would take place on December 11.
Nearly one lakh security personnel have been deployed in the Naxal-affected districts going to polls in the first phase amid the threat from Maoists who have called for a boycott of the elections. Sukma's Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meena said voters from interiors areas in the district were coming out to exercise their right to franchise, defying the Naxals' call for election boycott.
Around 23 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 12.30 pm in 18 Assembly constituencies in the first phase of Chhattisgarh elections on Monday, a poll official said.
An improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated early morning in Dantewada district by Naxals, who had called for a boycott of the polls, police said.
In the high-stakes Assembly polls, the ruling BJP is eyeing a fourth straight term in the tribal-dominated state as the opposition Congress seeks to return to power after 15 years. Chief Minister Raman Singh, two state cabinet ministers and an incumbent BJP MP are among the 190 candidates contesting in 18 constituencies of the 90-member Assembly.
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