Voting began in 18 Assembly constituencies in the first phase of Chhattisgarh elections on Monday under a tight security blanket comprising over 1.25 lakh police and paramilitary personnel.

Early polling began early for 10 out of 18 Assembly seats considering Naxal threat. A poll official said polling in nine constituencies of Bastar division and one in Rajnandgaon district began from 7 am and will conclude at 3 pm, while in the rest of the constituencies the polling time is from 8 am to 5 pm.

Polling time in 10 constituencies of Chhattisgarh -- Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta -- is from 7 am to 3 pm, due to the Naxal menace.

In the remaining eight constituencies -- Khairgarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot -- it is from 8 am till 5 pm.

Naxals had triggered an IED blast on Sunday, a day before the polling, in which one BSF jawan was martyred.  

Of the 18 seats going to polling in the first phase, 12 are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) while one is for Scheduled Caste (SC) category.

In the first phase, 190 candidates are in the fray and as per electoral rolls, there are 31,80,014 voters. As many as 4,336 polling booths have been set up for the first phase and 19,079 polling personnel have been deployed.

The second phase of polls will see voting in 72 seats on November 20.