Raipur: A high voter turnout of 66 per cent was recorded on Thursday in seven Parliamentary constituencies of Chhattisgarh in the third and last phase of polling which passed off peacefully.
The highest polling was in Surguja (72 per cent), while the lowest was in Janjgir-Champa (60 per cent).
"Around 66 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise in seven Lok Sabha seats - Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Janjgir-Champa (SC), Raigarh (ST), Surguja (ST) and Korba - where polling was peaceful," State Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kujur said.
The seats are spread across 14 districts. The district-wise voting was: Surguja (72 pc), Surajpur (71 pc), Balrampur (69 pc), Jashpur (69 pc), Raigarh (68 pc), Koriya (65 pc), Mungeli (64 pc), Korba (63 pc), Raipur (62 pc), Bilaspur (62 pc), Balodabazar (62 pc), Durg (61 pc), Janjgir-Champa (60 pc) and Bemetara (57 pc).
No untoward incident was reported from anywhere. As many as 262 EVMs were replaced after they developed snag, Kujur said.
Meanwhile, the presiding officer of a polling station in Korba district was arrested after he was found to be in inebriated state during duty. The officer, Tularam Kanwar, has been placed under suspension, he said.
There are a total of 1,18,10,256 voters in the state, which has 11 Lok Sabha seats. Polling for four seats were held on April 10 and 17 in the first and second phases.
Among 153 candidates in the fray, 15 are women. A total of 14,474 booths were set up in the state in thd third phase, which marks the conclusion of voting process.
Key contestants in the last round of polling include Congress MP and Union Minister Charandas Mahant (Korba), state BJP chief and sitting MP Vishnu Deo Sai (Raigarh-ST), six-time MP Ramesh Bais of BJP (Raipur), President of BJP Mahila Morcha and sitting MP Saroj Pandey (Durg) and Karuna Shukla, Congress nominee and niece of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Bilaspur).
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