Campaign ends, bypoll to Dantewada on Sept 23

RAIPUR: Campaigning for the September 23 Dantewada Assembly bypoll in Chhattisgarh ended at 3pm on Saturday, a poll official said.

Candidates can now canvass door-to-door till polling date as per rules laid down the Election Commission, he added.

The Dantewada (ST) bypoll was necessitated after its BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi was killed in a Naxal attack in April.

While central leaders of the two parties stayed away, the campaigning was led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel for the Congress and ex-cm Raman Singh and Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik for the BJP.

While the Congress highlighted pro-farmer sops and measures for tribals to woo the electorate, the BJP accused the state government of vindictive politics.

Both parties have fielded candidates who have been victims of Naxal violence, with Congress pitting Devti Karma, wife of Mahendra Karma who was killed in the Jhiram Valley attack in 2013, against the BJP’S Ojaswi Mandavi, wife of slain MLA Bhima Mandavi.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, Devti Karma had lost to Bhima Mandavi by a thin margin of 2,172 votes. There are nine candidates in the fray for the seat, which was the only one in Bastar division that the BJP managed to win in 2018.

The poll official said 1,88,263 voters, comprising 89,747 males and 98,876 females, will be able to exercise their franchise in 273 polling stations. In the state polls held last year for the 90-member Assembly, the Congress won 68 seats and the BJP bagged 15.