Counting for 11 Lok Sabha seats begins in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR

: Counting of votes for all 11 Lok Sabha seats in

Chhattisgarh

began at 27 centres, one each at every district headquarters at 8 am on Thursday.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made at the counting centres, particularly those in Naxal-hit areas, state Chief Electoral Officer Subrat Sahoo told PTI.

The postal ballots are being counted first, followed by the

electronic voting machines

(EVMs), he said.

The state recorded 71.48 per cent

voter turnout

in the 11 Lok Sabha seats where voting was held in three phases on April 11, 18 and 23.

Total 166 candidates, including three sitting Congress MLAs, wife of the incumbent Assembly speaker, and state BJP vice-president, contested the polls in the state.

In the last three

Lok Sabha polls

since 2004, the BJP won 10 out of 11 seats in the state.

State Congress spokesman Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said his party has deployed members of its legal cell at all the counting centres to keep a tab on any "mischievous activity".

Of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, four are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and one for Scheduled Caste candidates.