Raipur, Oct 27 (IANS) Filing of nomination papers for the second and final phase of assembly polls covering 51 seats in Chhattisgarh began Monday.
The filing of nominations for the first phase of polls for 39 seats, which go to polls Nov 14, began Oct 20 and ended Monday. The first phase of polls also includes 12 seats in the insurgency-hit Bastar region.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has so far announced names of 78 candidates for the 90-member assembly while the opposition Congress has declared only 39 names till now.
The last date for nomination for the final phase is Nov 3 while date for scrutiny of papers is Nov 4. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is Nov 6.
The second phase of polls will cover 13 seats in Raipur district, nine seats in Bilaspur district, eight seats in Surguja district, six seats in Janjgir-Champa district, five seats in Raigarh district, four seats in Korba district and three each in Jashpur and Koria districts.
The Election Commission has set up 20,952 polling stations in Chhattisgarh where 15,207,734 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
The state has 29 seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes and 10 seats for the Scheduled Castes candidates.
In the present assembly, the BJP has 52 members in the house, Congress has 34 while the Nationalist Congress Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have one seat each. Two seats are vacant.