Maoist threat casts cloud over poll

Amid threats of Maoist violence, 18 of the 90 constituencies in Chhattisgarh will go to the polls tomorrow to elect a new Assembly, in the first phase of a battle in which the Congress is desperate to end 15 years of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rule.

The election, widely seen as a ‘semi-final’ ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, will also see a formidable third factor in an alliance stitched by Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with the Chhattisgarh Janata Congress of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and the CPI.

A total of 190 candidates are in the fray in the 18 constituencies spread over eight districts where Maoists have been active for over a quarter of a century. Chief Minister Raman Singh is vying for a fourth consecutive term and his main opponent is BJP-turned-Congress leader Karuna Shukla, a niece of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In the high stakes battle, Shukla, a former BJP Lok Sabha member, has taken on Raman Singh at his home turf Rajnandgaon.