PM Modi to address election rally in Kanker town of poll-bound Chhattisgarh on November 2

PM Modi to address election rally in Kanker town of poll-bound Chhattisgarh on November 2

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election rally in poll-bound Chhattisgarh on November 2, his first public meeting in the Congress-ruled state after the announcement of the poll schedule.

The PM's rally will be held in Naxalite-hit Kanker district that is going to polls in the first phase of two-phased polls in the state, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary said. The prime minister will arrive in an Indian Air Force aircraft at the Raipur airport at 12.55 pm on November 2 and will leave for Kanker in a helicopter. His rally is scheduled to be held at 3 pm in Kanker town, he said.

Police said a massive security cover has been put in place at the rally venue. A multi-layered security blanket, involving personnel of the state police, paramilitary force besides Special Protection Group (SPG), has been put in place in the area, located around 150 km away from capital Raipur in north Bastar region.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will also be campaigning in Rajnandgaon and Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki districts of the state on November 2. After being in power for 15 years (2003-2018) under the leadership of Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh, the BJP suffered a massive defeat in the 2018 assembly elections at the hands of Congress and now it is looking to come back to power in the state.

Polling to the 90-member state assembly will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. Twenty seats falling in seven districts of Maoist-hit Bastar division and Rajnandgaon, Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Kabirdham and Khairagarh- Chhuikhadan-Gandai districts will witness voting in the first phase while remaining 70 in the second one. Votes will be counted on December 3.