54.09% Voter Turnout Recorded in Nine Madhya Pradesh Lok Sabha Seats by 3 PM

In MP's third phase of Lok Sabha polls, 54.09% voter turnout recorded till 3 pm. Betul led with 59.63%, while Bhind had the lowest at 44.18%. Notable voters included former CMs Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh. Scindia and Digvijaya Singh couldn't vote as their registrations were elsewhere. Candidates in Morena's sensitive region monitored polling from the police control room. 127 candidates, including 9 women, are contesting in nine seats spread across 19 districts. Bhopal has the most (22), Bhind the least (7).

A voter turnout of 54.09 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in nine Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh, where polling is underway in the third phase of the general elections on Tuesday, an election official said.

Of the nine seats, Betul recorded 59.63 per cent voting, Bhind 44.18 per cent, Bhopal 50.16 per cent, Guna 60.16 per cent, Gwalior 49.6 per cent, Morena 48.23 per cent, Rajgarh 63.69 per cent, Sagar 53.08 per cent and Vidisha 59.87 per cent, the official said. Former chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Digvijaya Singh and state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president V D Sharma were among the early voters.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who are contesting the polls from Rajgarh and Guna, respectively, will not be able to vote for themselves as the former is a registered voter of Bhopal, and the latter is registered to vote from Gwalior, party sources said.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP candidate from Vidisha seat, exercised franchise with his wife, Sadhna Singh, and two sons at a polling booth in his native village, Jait, in Sehore district.

Polling began at 7 am and will conclude at 6 pm across 20,456 polling stations, including 1,043 managed by women personnel and 75 by Divyang employees, an election official said.

To ensure smooth polling, the administration made local candidates sit in the police control room in Morena in the Gwalior-Chambal region, which is considered a sensitive area. The police made BJP candidate Shivmangal Singh Tomar, BSP's Ramesh Chandra Garg and Congress candidate Satyapal Sikarwar sit in the control room, Superintendent of Police Shailendra Singh Chouhan said. The candidates came to the police control room with their consent and sat together, as it has been a practice here, he said.

A total of 1.77 crore voters will decide the fate of 127 candidates who are contesting from Morena, Bhind (SC-reserved), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh and Betul (ST-reserved) seats spread across 19 districts of the state.

Polling in Betul (ST) constituency was initially scheduled to be held in the second phase on April 26 but was deferred due to the death of a candidate.

In all, 127 candidates, including nine women, are in the fray in the third phase of the elections.

Bhopal has the highest number of 22 candidates, while Bhind has the lowest at 7.

Voters include 92.68 lakh men, 84.83 lakh women, and 491 members of the third gender, while 1.66 lakh voters are 'divyangjan' (people with disabilities), 88,106 are above the age of 85, and 1,804 are 100 plus years old, the poll official said.

As many as 5.25 lakh voters are in the age group of 18-19 years.

Of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, polling for 12 seats took place in the first two phases on April 19 and 26. The remaining eight seats will go to polls in the fourth phase on May 13.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)