BHANUPRATAPPUR: Preparations are in full swing for the bypolls for the Bhanupratappur assembly constituency in the tribal region of Bastar concluded on Sunday. The district recorded heavy campaigning that concluded on Saturday.
According to sources from the state election dept, 256 polling booths will be set including 17 in urban areas and 239 in rural areas. At each centre 4 tables with one employee each, and a presiding officer have been deployed. A team of 256 members has been engaged across the constituency for the polling. There will be five model polling stations and five all-women polling stations.
A total number of 1,95,678 voters including 95,186 males and 1,00,491 females besides one from the third gender will cast their vote. The number of voters rose by 5,514 from 2018.
The bypoll was necessitated following the death of deputy speaker and sitting Congress MLA Manoj Mandavi. Congress has fielded late Manoj Mandavi’s wife, Savitri Mandavi, as its candidate, while the main opposition BJP batted for Brahmadand Netam as its candidate. Netam’s candidature kicked off a row with allegations about his involvement in a Pocso case in Jharkhand.