Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP Amit Shah tweeted on Monday urging voters to participate in large numbers in the first phase of the polling process for 18 seats.
"The first phase of voting in Chhattisgarh is today. I urge all voters to take part in the great festival of democracy with full enthusiasm and in huge numbers," Modi tweeted.
The BJP President told voters to come out and exercise their franchise if they wished to maintain the momentum of development.
"I appeal all the voters to vote in huge numbers to maintain the pace of development, progress and good governance," Shah tweeted in Hindi.
In the first phase of Chhattisgarh polls, voting began in 10 out of 18 Assembly constituencies on Monday. 190 candidates are in the fray and as per electoral rolls, there are 31,80,014 voters.
Women voters outnumber men for the first phase of polling, with 16,22,492 female voters on the rolls against 15,57,435 men. There are 87 third gender voters as well.
4,336 polling booths have been set up for the first phase and 19,079 polling personnel have been deployed.
(With inputs from agencies)
