First phase of LS polls 63.25 pc voting recorded across 6 seats in MP till 5 pm

Bhopal, Apr 19 (PTI) A voter turnout of 63.25 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Friday in six Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, where elections were underway in the first phase, an official said.
In Balaghat, 71.08 per cent voting was recorded, in Chhindwara 73.85 per cent, Jabalpur 56.74 per cent, Mandla 68.31 per cent, Shahdol 59.91 per cent and Sidhi 51.24 per cent, the official said.
Voting in Baihar and Paraswada assembly constituencies under the Balaghat Lok Sabha seat was held between 7 am and 4 pm for security reasons in view of the Naxal menace, he said, adding that a centre in the Dublai area of Baihar saw 100 per cent voting as all 80 voters cast their votes.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath, his son Nakul Nath, who is contesting from the Chhindwara LS seat, and their spouses, were among some of the early voters.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had failed to win the Chhindwara constituency in the 2019 parliamentary polls. It was the only Lok Sabha seat, out of the total 29 in the state, that the ruling party could not win.
Besides Chhindwara, the other key seat in the first phase is Mandla (ST), from where the sitting MP and Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste is contesting again.
The six constituencies - Shahdol, Mandla (both reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates), Jabalpur, Balaghat, Chhindwara and Sidhi - where polling is underway in the first phase, cover 13 districts and 47 assembly segments in the state.
Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm, but in Baihar, Lanji and Paraswada assembly segments of the Naxal-affected Balaghat constituency, it concluded at 4 pm, the official said.
A total of 88 candidates -- 81 men and seven women -- are in the fray across the six constituencies. Jabalpur has the highest 19 candidates, while Shahdol has the lowest 10 candidates.
Of the 13,588 booths, where the polling is being held, women officials are in charge of 1,118 booths.
There were 1,13,09, 636 (57,20,780 male, 55,88,669 female and 187 transgender) voters in these constituencies.
Arrangements for shelter, water and ORS (oral rehydration solution) were made at the polling booths considering hot weather conditions. A helicopter and an air ambulance were stationed in the Naxal-hit Balaghat district and Jabalpur to meet any eventuality, the official said.
In the November 2023 assembly elections in the state, 77.82 per cent voting was recorded. The state registered 61.57 per cent voting in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which increased to 71.16 per cent in 2019.
Polling for three more phases of the Lok Sabha elections in the state will take place on April 26, May 7 and May 13 for the remaining 23 seats.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)