Of the 223 candidates trying their luck in the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly elections, 26 informed that criminal cases have been registered against them. Of these, 16 are facing serious criminal cases. Cases like intentionally causing hurt and threatening are also registered against the candidates. According to the report of Chhattisgarh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), out of 223 candidates in the first phase, 26 (12 percent) candidates have informed the Election Commission about criminal cases registered against them.
Voting for a total of 90 assembly seats in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. In the first phase, voting will be held in 20 assembly constituencies and in the remaining constituencies on November 17. According to ADR, out of 20 candidates of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), five (25 percent) have informed about having criminal cases against them. At the same time, two out of 20 (10 percent) candidates of the ruling party Congress, four out of 10 (40 percent) candidates of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and three out of 15 (20 percent) candidates of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) have declared their candidature. It has been revealed that criminal cases have been registered against him.
Of the 20 constituencies in the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly elections, five (25 per cent) – Kanker, Chitrakote, Khairagarh, Pandariya and Kawardha – have criminal cases against three or more candidates. According to reports, the BJP candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves include Vijay Sharma (Kawardha), Vikrant Singh (Khairagarh), Vinayak Goyal (Chitrakot-ST), Asharam Netam (Kanker-ST) and Soyam Mukka (Sukma- ST) are included.
Whereas, Shankar Dhruva (Kanker-ST) and Neelu Chandravanshi (Pandariya) from Congress, Narendra Bhawani (Jagdalpur), Komal Hupendi (Bhanupratappur), Bomdha Mandavi (Chitrakot) and Khadgaraj Singh (Kawardha) from Aam Aadmi Party and JCC (J). Ravi Chandravanshi (Pandariya), Lucky Mangal Netam (Khairagarh) and Sonsai Kashyap (Bastar) have informed about criminal cases against them.
In the first phase, voting will be held in Konta, Bijapur, Dantewada, Chitrakote, Jagdalpur, Bastar, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Keshkal, Kanker, Bhanupratappur, Antagarh, Mohla-Manpur, Khujji, Dongargaon, Rajnandgaon, Dongargarh, Khairagarh, Kawardha and Pandariya assembly constituencies.