The stage is set for the first phase of Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh tomorrow. 18 constituencies, mostly in the Maoist infested areas, will go to polls in this phase. Polling in 13 Maoist infested constituencies will be held from 7 AM to 3 PM, while in other constituencies it will be held from 8 AM to 5 PM. Our correspondent reports, being a tribal area, Bastar is a female dominated society where women get due respect in all walks of life. This also an area where there are no incidents of social ills like dowry.

In Delhi, filing of nominations which started yesterday will continue till 16th of this month. Our correspondent reports, nomination centers have been set up at all districts headquarters in the national capital to deal with the rush of nomination filing. The Chief Electoral Office has deployed General observers in all constituencies besides 18 expenditure Observers to keep a close watch on the violators of Model Code of Conduct to ensure free and fair elections. The political parties are now busy finalisng the list of their candiates with the begining of nomination process.

In Mizoram, nominations of all the 142 candidates have been cleared in the scrutiny held yesterday. Amongst the candidate, the rulling congress party is contesting in all 40 constituencies, the opposition three party combined Mizoram Democartic Alliance(MDA) is fielding its 40 candidates. There are 4 Independent candidates also in the fray.

In Rajasthan, 548 candidates have filed their nominations so far for 200 Assembly seats. Tuesday is the last date for filing nomination papers. Our correspondent reports that many prominent candidates yesterday filed nomination papers from various constituencies.

In Madhya Pradesh, at least 430 nominations were found invalid during scrutiny due to technical reasons. According to the office of Chief electoral officer this figure is likely to increase. Our Bhopal correspondent reports that the nominations could be withdrawn till today.