The second and the final phase of polling for 103 urban bodies in 25 districts of the State will be held amid tight security arrangements on Wednesday. As many as 1,748 polling booths have been established for the second phase of polling.

According to the officials, in total 9,72,267 voters including 4,85,538 men and 4,83,729 women would exercise their rights to elect 20 municipal councils and 83 nagar panchayats. State Election Commission claimed to have completed preparations for the polls and made adequate security arrangements for free fair and peaceful polling.

The polling in districts of Bastar division including Kondagaon, Dantewada, Sukma, Kanker and Bastar will be held from 7 am to 3 pm while the timing for other districts is 8 am to 5 pm. The campaigning for the second phase of election concluded on Monday and the candidates went for door to door contact to garner support on Tuesday.

The polling parties were distributed election material and they left for their respective polling stations. Proper security arrangements have been made for the polling parties in all districts and the Naxal-hit districts in particular. The State Election Commission has also issued new guidelines to facilitate the identification of voters. According to the new guideline, if a listed voter fails to furnish any document for identity, he will be permitted to cast his vote if his identity is established from the photo voter list.

Similarly, the voters whose names are missing from the photo voter list could be permitted to cast vote by the presiding officer after the voter establishes his identity, officials said.

In the second phase the voters would elect representatives for 20 municipal councils in Takhatpur, Ratanpur, Mungeli, Katghora, Balrampur, Manendragarh, Kharsiya, Tilda-Nevra, Gobranvapara, Arang, Baloda Bazaar, Mahasamund, Bagbahra, Kumhari, Ahiwara, Balod, Dongargarh, Kirandul,Kanker and Badibacheli. Besides these, polling will be held for 83 nagar panchayats.

Notably about 70 percent voter turnout was recorded in the first phase of polling for election of 51 urban bodies including 10 municipal corporations, 19 municipal councils and 22 nagar panchayats. The polling for the first phase was held on Monday.

Counting and results for both the phases of polling will be declared on January 4.