BHIND: A BJP candidate and an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporter sustained injuries after unidentified persons opened fire in Madhya Pradesh's Mehgaon Assembly constituency on Friday.

A police team reached the spot on being informed of the incident, police said.

The single-phased polling for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly began at 7 am on Friday.

The voters can cast their ballots until 6 pm, barring the Baihar, Lanji, and Parswara assembly seats of Balaghat district and some booths in Mandla and Dindori districts, where polling will be held until 3 pm.

Webcasting has been made available at about 42,000 polling stations.

Nearly 700 companies of the central forces and two lakh police personnel of the state have been deployed for security during the poll. The election will decide the electoral fate of over 2,500 candidates.

Nearly 5.59 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. It includes 2.87 crore male and 2.71 crore women voters. There are over 5,000 booths run by women and 183 polling stations run by the disabled, officials said.

The polls, coming nearly six months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, are crucial for both the BJP and Congress for various reasons.

Madhya Pradesh will vote for all its 230 seats in a single phase and the counting of votes, with four other states, will be taken up on December 3.