Raipur, Nov 19 (IANS) 

Polling for the second and the final phase for 72 seats began Tuesday on a brisk note in Chhattisgarh where the Bharatiya Janata Party is in power for a decade.

Voters queued up in large numbers in urban as well as in rural areas polling booths much before the start of voting at 8 a.m.

In the first phase of ballotting, 18 seats, majority located in Maoists stronghold, went to the polls Nov 11.

The election commission has made elaborate security arrangements and has also installed about 3,000 cameras at booths to ensure free and fair polling.

Over 1.39 crore voters, including 68.30 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 18,015 polling booths to decide the fate of 843 candidates of which 75 are women.

The Saraipali seat in Mahasamund district has just five contestants, which is the lowest figure among all 72 seats, while the maximum number of 38 candidates are contesting from Raipur South seat in Raipur district where BJP heavyweight and PWD Minister Brijmohan Agrawal is seeking his sixth consecutive victory.