"Polling underway in a peaceful way": Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer

INDORE: Madhya Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer, Anupam Rajan on Friday said that polling for the 230-member assembly in the state is underway in a "peaceful way".

CEO Rajan informed that Rajgarh district witnessed the highest voter turnout of 16. 49 per cent while Indore saw the lowest voter turnout of 6. 1 per cent till 9 am.

"Long lines were seen outside many polling booths," he said.

Madhya Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 28.25 per cent while neighbouring Chhattisgarh saw 19. 67 per cent polling in the second phase till 11.30 am on Friday, according to data shared by the Election Commission.

Voting for 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh began at 7 am on Friday.

Addressing a press conference here in Indore amid polling, CEO Rajan said," The polling for Madhya Pradesh started today at 7 am. The polling is underway in a peaceful way".

The CEO informed that non-functional EVMs at a few polling booths are being replaced. "We received some complaints (technical) from some polling booths," CEO Rajan added.

"Polling has not been reported to have stopped anywhere across the state. Polling is underway at all polling booths,'" he added.

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

BJP is seeking to retain power in the state where it has ruled for almost 18 of the past 20 years and Congress is keen to oust the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. The webcasting facility 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.

The counting of votes for the five states including Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will be done on December 3.