An unprecedented polling percentage of close to 70 per cent during the three-phased lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh has created a record not seen even during the days of undivided Madhya Pradesh period.
Equally heartening for the poll officials was the highly narrowed gap in percentage of male and female voters who enthusiastically voted in the scorching summer heat across Chhattisgarh.
The final statistics released by the State Electoral Office here on Friday has male polling percentage of 70.89 per cent and that of female at 68.04. The overall polling percentage in Chhattisgarh stood at 69.48
per cent.
The maximum polling percentage has been logged by Surguja lok Sabha constituency (77 per cent) followed by Raigarh (76.82 per cent).
Interestingly, voting percentage at Korba, Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, lok Sabha constituencies touched almost similar proportions with 74.33 per cent, 74.21 per cent and 74.63 per cent respectively.
The next best polling percentage was recorded in insurgency hit Kanker lok Sabha constituency at lone 70.29 per cent—much higher than restive Bastar’s 59.40 per cent which witnessed bloody violence unleashed by Maoists.
The polling percentage in Durg lok Sabha constituency stood at 67.87 per cent followed by Raipur at 65.56 per cent while Bilaspur at 63.17 per cent and Janjgir-Champa at 61.60 per cent.
In one campares the male and female voter numbers in individual constituencies Raipur topped with more than 9.79 lakh voters with more than 9.25 lakh female voters. Close to Raipur lok Sabha constituency was Durg with more that 9.44 lakh male voters and more than 9.09 lakh female voters.
The restive Bastar region due to its own geographical reasons and insurgency problem had the lowest male and female voter numbers are 6,300,53 and 665,237 repectively.
The 11 lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh are- Surguja, Raigarh, Janjgir-Champa, Korba, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon,Durg, Raipur, Mahasamund, Bastar and Kanker.