MP polls: 27.70% voter turnout till 11am; 2 injured in stone pelting in Morena

Two persons were injured in a clash on Friday (November 17) during voting in Madhya Pradesh’s Dimani constituency where the Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar is contesting, an official said.

Morena Superintendent of Police (SP) Shailendra Singh told PTI that a clash between two groups was reported from Mirdhan village over attempts to stop voters from casting their ballots. The SP said some channels ran inaccurate reports claiming that there was firing and subsequent bullet injuries in the village.

“Two persons identified as Ajay Sharma and Rampratap Sharma were injured by sticks in the fight. The news of bullet injuries is wrong,” he said.

27.79% until 11 am

According to the data by the Election Commission of India, 27.79% of votes have been polled in the state as of 11 a.m.

Polling began at 7 am across all 230 constituencies, including 47 reserved for ST and 35 for the SC, in the state, the official said.

Chief Electoral Officer of MP Anupam Rajan said peaceful polling is underway in all the constituencies. Electronic voting machines were changed at some places during mock polling while technical snags were rectified at some other booths, he said.

“So, the polling is underway at all places uninterrupted,” he said, adding that 11.95 per cent polling was recorded in the state till 9 am.

He said 12.1 per cent of those who cast their votes are males, while 11.89 per cent are females. The highest polling at 9 am was recorded in Rajgarh district at 16.49 per cent and it was lowest in Indore district at 6.21 per cent, he added.oting for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh and the second and final phase of Chhattisgarh, comprising 70 seats, began on Friday (November 17) morning. Till 9 am, a voter turnout of 10.39 per cent was recorded in Madhya Pradesh, while in Chhattisgarh it was nearly 6 per cent.

In Madhya Pradesh, a total of 2,533 candidates, including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor Kamal Nath are in the fray, in what is being touted as a largely straight contest between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress.

Security tightened in Naxal-hit areas

The polling in the state is being held from 7 am to 6 pm in all the assembly segments except in Baihar, Lanjhi and Paraswada seats in Balaghat district, 55 booths in Mandla district's Bichhiya and Mandla seats and 40 polling stations of Dindori district, all Naxalite affected, where voting time is 7 am to 3 pm, an official said.

The single-phase voting covering all the 230 assembly seats – 47 of them reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes – has more than 5.6 crore registered electors, the official said. Mock poll was conducted in the presence of authorised polling agents 90 minutes before the actual start of voting, the official said.

Voting is underway in 64,626 polling stations set up in the state. They include 64,523 main booths and 103 associate (sahayak) stations, where the number of voters is more than 1,500. As many as 5,60,58,521 voters, including 2,87,82,261 males, 2,71,99,586 females and 1,292 third gender persons, are eligible to exercise their franchise. The voters also include service and overseas electors. A total of 2,533 candidates of political parties and independents – 2,280 males, 252 females and one third gender person – are vying to enter the state assembly.

The number of "critical" voting stations is 17,032, while 5,260 booths have all-women polling staff, the official said. Booths which recorded very high turnout or witnessed any sort of violence during previous elections are designated as "critical polling stations". As many as 183 polling stations have been set up for persons with disabilities. For the first time, 371 youth-managed booths have been set up, while the number of "model" polling stations stands at 2,536. Fifty-seven "green" booths (environment-friendly centres) – 50 in Jabalpur and seven in Balaghat – have also been established, he said.

For maintaining law and order during polls, prohibitory action was taken against 1,90,233 persons and 2,69,318 licensed weapons were deposited with authorities, the official said, adding 1,142 FIRs were registered for violation of the poll code.

CM Chouhan, minister Tomar, Congress’ Kamal Nath in fray

In the 230 assembly seats spread across 52 districts, a total of 73,622 Ballot Units (BUs), 64,626 Central Units (CUs) and 64,626 VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) units are being used for conducting polling. VVPAT system keeps a physical trail of all votes cast. It allows voters to verify their votes are cast as intended.

Besides Chief Minister Chouhan (Budhni) and state Congress president Kamal Nath (Chhindwara), three Union ministers from the BJP – Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste – are contesting the polls. BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywrgiya is contesting from Indore-1 and three Lok Sabha MPs of the saffron party -- Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak -- are also in the fray. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's son and ex-state minister Jaivardhan Singh and former chief minister Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh are contesting from their traditional Raghogarh and Churhat seats, respectively.

Besides main contenders for power Congress and the BJP, the AAP, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, among others, have also fielded their candidates.

Chhattisgarh: Polls to decide fate of CM Baghel, his deputy TS Singh Deo

The election in Chhattisgarh, where 70 seats are up for grabs in the final phase of the polls, will decide the fate of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, his deputy TS Singh Deo, eight state ministers and four members of Parliament among 958 candidates.

The first phase of elections for 20 seats in the Naxal-affected state, which has a 90-member assembly, was held on November 7 and saw a high voter turnout of 78 per cent.

The ruling Congress, voted to office in 2018 after 15 years in opposition, and the BJP are the main contenders for power in the state, where the AAP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and some regional outfits are also in the fray. Congress has set an ambitious target of winning 75-plus assembly seats, the opposition BJP is seeking to make a comeback to power in the state which it ruled for 15 years non-stop – from 2003 to 2018.

A total of 958 candidates -- 827 men, 130 women and one transgender person -- are contesting for 70 seats spread across 22 districts. As many as 1,63,14,479 voters -- 81,41,624 men , 81,72,171 women and 684 of third gender -- are eligible to exercise their franchise at 18,833 polling booths.

At 26, the Raipur City West seat has the highest number of contestants, while Dondilohara in Balod district has the lowest count of candidates at four. Among the candidates, 70 each are from the BJP and the Congress. There are 43 nominees from the AAP, 62 from the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and 33 from the Hamar Raj Party in the fray. The Mayawati-led BSP and the Gondwana Ganatantra Party, a regional political outfit, are contesting in alliance and have fielded 43 and 26 candidates, respectively.

Three-way battle in Chhattisgarh

While the main fight is between bitter rivals BJP and the Congress, a three-way contest is on the cards in several seats of the Bilaspur division where former chief minister Ajit Jogi's party and the BSP have pockets of influence. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has also been focusing on seats in the division.

Polling time in all the 70 constituencies is from 8 am to 5 pm, except in nine polling booths in the Naxal-affected Bindranawagarh seat in Rajim district, where voting will be held from 7 am to 3 pm for security reasons.

The booths in Bindranawagarh where voting will be held from 7 am to 3 pm are Kamarbhaudi, Amamora, Odh, Bade Gobra, Ganwargaon, Gariba, Nagesh, Sahbinkachhar and Kodomali. Of the total 18,833 booths, 700 are "sangwari" polling booths which will be entirely managed by women personnel.

Chief Minister Baghel (Patan seat), his deputy TS Singh Deo (Ambikapur), assembly speaker Charan Das Mahant (Sakti), eight state ministers, including Tamrdhwaj Sahu (Durg Rural) and Ravindra Choubey (Saja), are among prominent Congress candidates in the second phase. From the BJP, state unit chief and MP Arun Sao (Lormi), Leader of Opposition in the assembly Narayan Chandel (Janjgir-Champa), Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh (Bharatpur-Sonhat-ST), MP Gomti Sai (Pathalgaon-ST), former ministers Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur South), Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud) and Punnulal Mohile (Mungeli) are among key candidates for the November 17 elections.

(With inputs from agencies)