20 Nov : Former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi escaped unhurt when his vehicle was attacked by unidentified persons in Bilaspur district during the second and final phase of voting today in Chhattisgarh Assembly elections that recorded a 68 per cent turnout and passed off peacefully in sharp contrast to the first phase.
An estimated 68 per cent polling was recorded in the remaining 51 of the 90 Assembly constituencies and it might go little higher, Deputy Election Commissioner Jaiprakash told reporters in New Delhi.
"The polling was peaceful" and there was brisk polling right from the morning, he said.
People in five polling stations observed boycott citing lack of development and non-fulfilment of poll promises, he said.
The Commission also directed the state’s Chief Electoral Officer to file a case against Chief Minister W Raman Singh for campaigning during the prohibited period on a FM channel in Raipur, he said, adding that directions have also been issued to issue notices to the network concerned.
An FIR has been filed by one Gyanendra Upadhyaya for an incident of stoning at the car of Congress leader Ajit Jogi, Jayaprakash said.
To a question, Jaiprakash also said that the Election Commission was verifying a complaint about Jogi’s name figuring at two places in the state.
The incident involving Jogi, the 61-year-old wheelchair-bound Congress leader, who is contesting from Marwahi Assembly constituency which went to polls today, happened when he was visiting a poll booth in Girwar, Subodh Singh, district electoral officer (DEO), Bilaspur said.
A 55 per cent turnout was registered in the violence marred first phase of elections on 14th Nov for the 39 constituencies in which a flight engineer of IAF and a CRPF personnel were killed.