63.41% turnout till 5 pm in Naxal-hit Bastar; CRPF man killed, officer hurt

Raipur/Jagdalpur: A voter turnout of more than 63 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Friday in Chhattisgarh's Naxal-affected Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, which saw the death of a CRPF constable after a grenade accidentally went off and injury to an officer in an IED blast, officials said.

Polling in the Bastar seat started at 7 am and was held in different time slots amid tight security in the first phase of the elections.

A voter turnout of 63.41 per cent turnout was registered till 5 pm, an election official said.

The voter turnout in the vast constituency stood at 66.04 per cent in 2019.

Polling in booths of Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Chitrakot, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta Assembly constituencies and 72 centres in the Jagdalpur Assembly segment under the Bastar Lok Sabha seat ended at 3 pm, he said.

In booths of the Bastar Assembly constituency and 175 centres of the Jagdalpur Assembly constituency, polling was held from 7 am to 5 pm, the official said. The turnout figure may go up as final data from several booths was yet to be received, he said.

At least 60,000 state and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the constituency to ensure peaceful polling.

Residents of 56 villages cast their vote in polling booths set up in their own village for the first time in Lok Sabha elections, he informed.

A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan deployed on security duty was killed when a shell of an under-barrel grenade launcher (UBGL) accidentally exploded in Galgam village under Usoor police station limits in Bijapur district, a police official said.