Madhya Pradesh: Pragya Thakur casts vote, 42.25 per cent turnout till 2 pm

An average of 42.25 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 2 pm in eight Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh, an official said.

Voting for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in the state was underway since 7 am and long queues were seen at several booths.

"During mock poll conducted before the actual voting began, 30 to 40 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were changed because of some technical problems," state Chief Electoral Officer VL Kantha Rao said.

The voting figures till 2 pm were: Morena 38.43 per cent, Bhind 35.38 per cent, Gwalior 38.70 per cent, Guna 49.03 per cent, Sagar 45.27 per cent, Vidisha 46.93 per cent, Bhopal 40.69 per cent and Rajgarh 45.30 per cent, he added.

In Bhopal, Congress veteran Digvijay Singh is locked in a battle with BJP candidate and 2008 Malegaon blast accused Pragya Thakur.

Singh is a registered voter of his hometown Raghogarh in Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat.

Thakur exercised her franchise in the morning at a polling booth in Rivera Town area in the state capital.

Congress general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia is seeking a re-election from Guna seat, where he cast his vote at a booth early in the morning.

Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is the MP from Gwalior, is contesting from Morena seat this time.

Altogether 138 candidates are in the fray for these eight seats, of which seven were won by the BJP in 2014.

Total 18,141 polling booths have been set up where over 1.44 crore people, including 32,909 service voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise, he said.

Lok Sabha elections for 29 seats in the state are being held in four phases.

The first (in six seats) and second phases (seven seats) were held on April 29 and May 6.

Voting for the last phase in eight seats will be held on May 19.