Lok Sabha polls: Madhya Pradesh records 30.46 per cent voter turnout till 11 am

The polling for the six parliamentary seats--Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat and Chhindwara--began on Friday morning at 7 in the state.

Madhya Pradesh recorded 30.46 per cent voting till 11 am in the first phase of polling for six parliamentary seats in the state on Friday, the chief electoral officer said. The polling for the six parliamentary seats--Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat and Chhindwara--began on Friday morning at 7 in the state.

Of these, Balaghat is leading the voter turnout charts after 35.64 per cent voting was recorded here till 11 am, according to the data released by the Election Commission of India. Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan said, "Today, mock polls were conducted at 13,588 polling stations in the first phase of Lok Sabha election on Friday morning and it was successfully conducted. During the mock poll, some Balloting Unit (BU), Control Unit (CU) and VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) faced problems and they were replaced. There were a total of 78 BUs, 59 CUs and 88 VVPATs which were replaced."

"After that, actual voting started from 7 am and till now voting is going on peacefully at all 13,588 polling stations of the six parliamentary seats in the state. According to the data we received, the voting percentage in the state was around 15% till 9 am and till 11 am, the voting percentage in the state stood at 30.46 percent," he said. Giving further details of voting percentage parliamentary seat wise, the officer said that Balaghat constituency recorded the maximum voting percentage of 35.64 per cent while Sidhi recorded the minimum 26.03 per cent voting till 11am in the state so far.

"So far till 11 am, Balaghat recorded the maximum 35.64 per cent voting followed by Chhindwara 32.51 per cent, Mandla 32.03 per cent, Shahdol 29.57 per cent, Jabalpur 27.41 per cent and Sidhi 26.03 per cent in the state. There is no news of any unpleasant incident from anywhere in the state and voting is going on peacefully," he added. Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh will be conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling is going on for six parliamentary seats in the state which include Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat and Chhindwara.

Polling will also be held in the state on April 26, May 7 and May 13. The votes will be counted on June 4. Madhya Pradesh has a total of 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, making it the sixth-largest state in terms of parliamentary representation. Out of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved. (ANI)

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