In spite of a boycott call by the rebels, polling was successfully conducted in the Maoist-infested Bastar, the only constituency scheduled in the first phase of election in Chhattisgarh, on Thursday where three heavyweights were in the fray.
Polling in Jagdalpur was completed at 4 pm, while polling in other Assembly segments coming under the Bastar lok Sabha constituency was completed at 3 pm as scheduled by the Election Commission in the Maoist heartland.
The eight candidates in the poll fray in Bastar were Dinesh Kashyap (BJP), Deepak Karma (Congress), Soni Sori (AAP), Vimla Sori (CPI), Manbodh Baghel (BSP), Shankar Thakur (Samajwadi Party), Comrade Devchandra Dhruv (CPI-Ml) and Arjun Singh Thakur of Ambedkarite Party of India.
Some of the key candidates such as the BJP’s Dinesh Kashyap cast his vote in his village Farsaguda while Deepak Karma of the Congress party cast his vote at Dantewada. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate and tribal teacher Soni Sori who had been in the focus during her entire campaigning period in Bastar also cast her vote in Dantewada. The other candidates arrived with their supporters in their respective regions to cast their vote during the morning hours.
An interesting aspect of the poll battle fought in Bastar is that the contest has become triangular with three strong candidates, Dinesh Kashyap (BJP), Deepak Karma (Congress) and Soni Sori (AAP) trying out their luck in the polls in the Maoist heartland.