Madhya Pradesh witnesses over 54 pct voter turnout till 3 pm

An average 54.22 per cent turnout was recorded till 3 pm in seven Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh on Monday, an election official said. Long queues were seen at many booths as polling was underway since 7 am in the seven constituencies of Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul, he said.

The voting figures till 3 pm were as follows: Tikamgarh 52.56 per cent, Damoh- 55.20 per cent, Khajuraho- 52.03 per cent, Satna- 51.13 per cent, Rewa- 46.96 per cent, Hoshangabad- 59.41 per cent and Betul- 61.80 per cent, state chief electoral officer V L Kantha Rao informed at a press conference. He said those in queue till 6 pm will be allowed to vote.

The voting figures till 2 pm were as follows: Tikamgarh 43.37 per cent, Damoh- 45.83 per cent, Khajuraho- 42.51 per cent, Satna- 41.10 per cent, Rewa- 39.37 per cent, Hoshangabad- 45.40 per cent and Betul- 48.98 per cent. All these seats are currently held by the BJP.

Polling was going on peacefully across the seven constituencies, Rao said. "Minor issues related to EVMs were reported at some places but they were sorted out," he said, adding that EVMs were changed at 139 polling booths during polling across these seven parliamentary seats.

He said there were complaints about poll boycott at some places in Chhatarpur, Tikamngarh, Damoh and Hoshangabad over civic issues but the officials sorted out the issues and started polling. Rao said there was a tiff between two groups at a polling booth involving local MLA (BJP's Vijay Shah) at Harsud and FIRs were registered against both the groups on their respective complaints.

Union minister Virendra Singh Khatik and BJP MP Prahlad Patel are among the 110 candidates in the fray. This is the second phase of polling in Madhya Pradesh.

Lok Sabha elections for 29 seats in the state are being held in four phases. Polling for six seats was held in the first phase on April 29, while eight seats each will go to polls on May 12 and 19.

In 2014, the BJP won 27 seats in the state while the Congress bagged two seats. The Congress later increased its tally to three after wresting Ratlam seat from the BJP in a bypoll.

(With inputs from agencies.)