About a third of votes cast in Chhattisgarh (Third Lead)

Raipur, Nov 19 (IANS) More than four million voters cast their ballot by noon in the second and final phase of elections to the state assembly in Chhattisgarh that has been governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party for a decade now.

About 30 percent voting was recorded till 12 noon Tuesday across 72 assembly constituencies, an election official said.

Polling for 18 seats in the 90-member assembly, a majority located in Maoists' stronghold, was held Nov 11 in the first phase of ballotting.

There was heavy polling in a few assembly seats, including Marwahi constituency, Tuesday morning.

Congress leader Ajit Jogi's son Amit Jogi is contesting from Marwahi that recorded in excess of 40 percent voting by noon.

The second and final phase of elections saw minor clashes between ruling Bharatiya Janata Party cadres and the Congress workers in Durg City as well as in Bilaspur constituencies.

Voters queued up in urban as well as at rural areas polling booths much before the start of voting at 8 a.m.

Over 13.9 million voters, including 6.83 million women, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 18,015 polling stations to decide the fate of 843 candidates, 75 women included.

The Election Commission has made elaborate security arrangements and has also installed about 3,000 CCTV cameras at booths to ensure free and fair polling.

The Saraipali seat in Mahasamund district has just five contestants, which is the lowest figure among all 72 seats that went to poll Tuesday. The maximum number of 38 candidates are contesting from Raipur South in Raipur district from where BJP heavyweight and PWD Minister Brijmohan Agrawal is seeking his sixth consecutive victory.

The main battle is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has governed Chhattisgarh since 2003, and the Congress.

The Congress headed the first government after the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 and in the keenly contested polls this year it could stage a comeback or the BJP could also score a hat-trick.

Election data shows that the second phase polling for 72 seats, of which 17 are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes and nine for the Scheduled Castes, are spread out in 19 districts.