Polling for 20 seats in the first phase of Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh is to be held on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale said on Monday.

Polling in Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratapur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta constituencies will be held from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In Pandariya, Kawardha, Khairagarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot constituencies polling will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A total of 223 candidates are in the fray for 20 seats in the first phase. Of these, 198 are men and 25 are women.

There are 40,78,681 voters eligible to exercise their franchise at 5,304 polling stations. Of these, 20,84,675 are women, 19,93,937 are men and 69 belong to the third gender. Webcasting facility is available at 2,431 stations.

A total of 200 pink polling stations have been set up to encourage women to vote.

There are 12 alternative documents that will serve as valid ID proofs for voting: Aadhaar card, MGNREGA job card, bank or post office passbooks with photographs, Health insurance smart card issued under the scheme of the Ministry of Labour, Driving licence, PAN card, smart card issued by RGI under NPR, Indian passport, pension documents with photographs, service ID cards (with photographs) issued by central or state governments or public sector undertakings, public limited companies, Official identity cards  issued to MPs, MLAs, and MLCs, and  Unique Disability ID (UDID)  issued by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, she informed.

Around 60,000 security personnel -- 40,000 from the central armed police forces and 20,000 from the state police -- have been deployed to ensure a peaceful conduct of elections in the first phase.

The voter turnout in the first phase of 2018 assembly elections was 76.47 percent.