Voting began for bypolls in a total of three Assembly seats in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, with the elections being seen as a 'semifinal' ahead of Assembly polls in both states. Counting of votes in all three constituencies will be held on February 28.
Madhya Pradesh
Voting for bypolls in the Mungaoli and Kolaras Assembly seats began at 8am. The two constituencies fall in the Guna Parliamentary constituency of Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. The bypolls were necessitated by the death of Congress MLAs Mahendra Singh Kalukheda (Mungaoli) and Ram Singh Yadav (Kolaras).
An error was reported at an EVM in a booth in Kolaras, which briefly disrupted polling.
The two bypolls are seen as a prestige contest for Jyotiraditya as he positions himself to be the candidate to lead the Congress' campaign in the coming Assembly polls.
His aunt, Yashodara Raje Scindia, a minister with the BJP government in the state, has also been campaigning in the two constituencies and was recently in the news for allegedly threatening voters to stop choosing the Congress.
Odisha
As many as 155 of the 281 voting booths in Bijepur Assembly constituency have been declared as 'critical', with 36 platoons of state police forces and CRPF deployed. The brother of Sushant Singh, state labour minister, and three of his companions were injured when they were shot at by unidentified men on Thursday night in the area.
The BJP deployed Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram to the constituency while Smriti Irani addressed three rallies, highlighting the importance the saffron party is giving to the bypoll.
(With agency inputs)