Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
Turnout at 1 pm
In Madhya Pradesh, polling for the first round of the Lok Sabha elections started on Friday in six constituencies. A voter turnout of 44.43 per cent is recorded till 1 pm.
The constituency-wise polling is Balaghat 52.83 per cent, Chhindwara 49.68, Jabalpur 39.63, Mandla 49.68, Shahdol 40.82 and Sidhi 34.65.
Turnout App
Turnout at 11 am
A voter turnout of 30.46 per cent is recorded till 11 am, an official said.
The constituency-wise polling is Balaghat 35.64 per cent, Chhindwara 32.51, Jabalpur 27.41, Mandla 32.03, Shahdol 29.57 and Sidhi 26.03.
Turnout at 9 am
According to electoral official, 14.12% of voters cast votes until 9 in the morning.
The state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Anupam Rajan told PTI that voting for the first round of the election started peacefully in each of the six constituencies.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath, along with his son Nakul Nath, who is congress candidate for the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat, and their spouses, are among the early voters.
In addition to Chhindwara, Mandla (ST), where incumbent MP and Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste is contesting again, is another crucial seat in the first phase of voting.
The first phase of voting is taking place in Shahdol, Mandla (both reserved for Scheduled Tribes), Jabalpur, Balaghat, Chhindwara, and Sidhi, out of the 29 parliamentary constituencies in the BJP-ruled state.
There are 13 districts and 27 assembly segments included in these six constituencies.
According to the official, voting started at 7 a.m. and will, for the most part, end at 6 p.m. In the Naxal-affected Balaghat constituency, polling in the assembly segments of Baihar, Lanji, and Paraswada will take place from 7 am to 4 pm due to security concerns, he continued.
As many as 88 candidates – 81 men and seven women – are in the fray across the six constituencies. Jabalpur has the highest 19 candidates while Shadold has the lowest ten candidates in the fray.
There was 77.82 per cent voting recorded in the November 2023 assembly elections in the state.
The state recorded 61.57 per cent voting in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The percentage rose to 71.16 in 2019 general elections.
Polling for three more phases of Lok Sabha elections in the state will take place on April 26, May 7 and May 13 for the remaining 23 seats.
In 2019, the ruling BJP won 28 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats and is also eyeing the Chhindwara seat, bagged by the Congress.
