BHOPAL, Nov. 17, 2023 (TBINN)
Polling began today Morning for Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, where 2,533 candidates, including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor Kamal Nath are in the fray for 230 Assembly seats, in a largely straight contest between the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party and the Opposition Congress.
Polling is being held from 7 A.M. to 6 P.M. in all 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 A.M. to 3 P.M., an official said.
The single-phase voting covering all the 230 Assembly seats, 47 of these reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes, has more than 5.6 crore registered electors, official elaborated.
Mock poll was conducted in the presence of authorized polling agents 90 minutes before the actual start of voting, official added.
Voting is under way in 64,626 polling stations set up in the state. These 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.
Number of “critical” voting stations is 17,032, while 5,260 booths have all-women polling staff, official informed.
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