Chhattisgarh polls: Voters in this constituency do not even know who the candidates are

Raipur, Nov 16: The central Indian state of Chhattisgarh went to its first phase of polling on November 12 when voting was held in 18 seats. The remaining 72 seats of the 90-member Assembly will go to polling on November 20. However, not all are interested.

According to a report in Patrika, there is very little sign about the upcoming election on Tuesday in the Rajim constituency in Raipur district. There is not much talk about the election in the villages under this constituency or even the cities and towns. No banner, party flags, slogans nor campaigning is visible in these settlements.

Before the birth of Chhattisgarh, Rajim was known to be a high-profile seat of former three-time chief minister of (undivided) Madhya Pradesh Shyama Charan Shukla. Though it is not so now and the people here are known to be conservative when it comes to speaking their minds on political preference. "When you ask them, they clearly say on the face that they have not thought about anything. When the turn comes to cast the ballot, will see who to give our votes," the Patrika report cited them as saying.

In fact, when asked, many of the people in the villages in Rajim said they even don't know who the candidates are for the November 20 polling.

Rajim has seen the BJP and Congress winning alternatively since 2003. In 2013, BJP's Santosh Upadhyay defeated 2008 winner Amritesh Shukla from the Congress by 2,441 votes.

The first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh saw about 70 per cent turnout. The result will be out on December 11.