46% voter turnout till 5pm for Raipur City South bypoll in Chhattisgarh

The bypoll, which saw 30 candidates vying for the seat, is mainly viewed as a direct contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress

A voter turnout of 46% was recorded till 5pm on Wednesday in the by-election for the Raipur City South Assembly seat in Chhattisgarh, according to election officials.

Voters show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes for the by-election at a polling station in Raipur on Wednesday. (ANI)

The bypoll, which saw 30 candidates vying for the seat, is mainly viewed as a direct contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress.

Voting began at 7am with tight security measures in place and was scheduled to continue until 6pm. The constituency has a total of 2,71,169 electors, including 1,33,800 males, 1,37,317 females, and 52 transgender voters. To ensure smooth voting, 253 polling booths were set up across the constituency, with over 1,000 security personnel deployed.

BJP candidate Sunil Kumar Soni cast his vote at the Maharana Pratap Schoolwhile Congress nominee Akash Sharma exercised his franchise at the Pt Sundarlal Sharma School.

Political experts believe that in this election, the absence of a compelling issue to mobilise the electorate has left both parties facing a significant challenge in motivating the voter turnout.

“Both sides have found it difficult to stir their local networks into action,” said Harsh Dubey, a political commentator based in Chhattisgarh.

The Raipur City South seat became vacant after BJP legislator Brijmohan Agrawal resigned following his election to the Lok Sabha from the Raipur parliamentary constituency.

The counting of votes will take place on November 23.

In the previous state elections, the BJP had secured a significant victory, winning 54 of the 90 seats, while Congress won 35 and the Gondwana Gantantra Party bagged one seat.