Bilaspur: In the face of severe maoist threats, Chhattisgarh goes for poll for 18 out of 90 constituencies on Monday morning.

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.

Security was beefed up in the region to avoid any clashes. As many as one lakh security personnel, including paramilitary forces, have been posted in the state.

Here are some pictures from the heart of the Red terror zone: 

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Voting underway in interior areas of Kistaram, Palem and Bejji in Naxal-affected Sukma district.

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An IED was detected near a polling booth in Konta's Banda, following which a makeshift polling booth was established under a tree, away from the actual polling booth. 

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A differently-abled person reaches Chintagupha polling booth in Dantewada to cast his vote in the first phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.

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A differently-abled person casts his vote at a polling booth in Motipur in Rajnandgaon. 

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Huge voter turnout at the polling station in Naxal-affected Manpur's Pardoni village where Naxali posters and banners asking people to boycott elections had been seen.

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Voters in Jagdalpur's Gandhi Nagar ward protest outside the polling centre, say that names of many voters are missing including those who have been living here for the past 25 years.

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Voting stopped due to a technical problem in the EVM at the Pink polling booth in Kamla College, in Rajnandgaon.

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A 100-year-old woman reaches a polling station in Dornapal to cast her vote.

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Hundreds of people attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Bilaspur. The BJP leader said, “Our opposition still don’t know how to fight the BJP. We are focused on development, we went beyond the caste divisions. You can witness development wherever you go in Chhattisgarh”.

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People queued up outside the polling station in Naxal-affected Manpur's Pardoni village.