AMN WEB DESK
In Madhya Pradesh, barring small incidents, voting for 230 assembly seats of the state was conducted peacefully today.
According to official information, over 76 percent of votes were cast in the state.
Voting ended peacefully at 3 pm in the Naxal-affected Balaghat district and some polling stations in Mandla and Dindori districts.
With the completion of voting, the fate of a total of 2 thousand 533 candidates is sealed in EVMs. Till 5 pm, the highest 85.49 percent voting was reported in Sailana constituency of Ratlam district, while the lowest 50.41 percent votes were cast in Bhind assembly constituency.
There was 59 percent voting in Bhopal, 66 percent in Jabalpur, 61 in Gwalior, 65 in Indore and more than 80 percent in Neemuch, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Seoni, and Shajapur districts.
Akashvani correspondent reports that in Madhya Pradesh, voters received a red carpet welcome at some places while polling stations were decorated with balloons in other places. Voters also fully enjoyed the innovations of the Election Commission and voted warmly. The youth who came to vote for the first time clicked lots of pictures at the selfie point.
The assembly elections were held in a single phase in Madhya Pradesh and no untoward incident was reported at more than 64 thousand polling stations and the voting was conducted peacefully. Initially, the pace of voting was a bit slow but from noon onwards the voting picked up the momentum.
Many prominent leaders including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel, Faggan Singh Kulaste, former Congress Chief Minister Kamal Nath, senior leaders Dr Govind Singh, NP Prajapati and Jaivardhan Singh’s fate is now sealed in EVMs. Counting of votes in the state will take place on December 3.
Meanwhile, in Chhattisgarh, voting for the second phase for 70 assembly seats has completed peacefully except sporadic incidents today. According to Chief Electoral Officer of the state, Reena Baba Saheb Kangale, over 68 percent voting was recorded till 5 pm. The highest turnout of 82 percent was recorded in Kurud assembly constituency and the lowest turnout of 52 percent was recorded in Raipur South. The final figures are awaited.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that during the voting, about 1 percent of cases of technical faults in the machines were reported which were quickly sorted out. At the same time, a security force soldier was martyred in a blast caused by Maoists while polling party was returning after voting from Bindranavagarh assembly constituency of Gariaband district,
A total of 959 candidates, including 130 women, were in the fray in the second phase. Prominent among them are Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Patan, Assembly Speaker Dr. Charandas Mahant from Sakti, Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Dev from Ambikapur, Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu from Durg Rural and Ravindra Choubey from Saja. At the same time, BJP state president and MP from Lormi, Arun Sao, Leader of Opposition from Janjgir-Champa, Narayan Chandel, Union Minister of State from Bharatpur-Sonhat, Renuka Singh, MP from Pathalgaon, Gomti Sai and MP from Patan, Vijay Baghel were also in the fray. The fate of all of them has been captured in EVMs today. The counting of votes for both phases will be done on December 3.