LS polls: Madhya Pradesh records 53.40 per cent voter turnout till 3 pm

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh recorded a robust 53.40 per cent voter turnout till 3 am in the first phase of polling for six parliamentary seats in the state, according to data released by the Election Commission on Friday.

The polling for the six parliamentary seats--Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat and Chhindwara--got underway at 7 am on Friday.

Of the six seats that went to polls on the day, Balaghat topped the charts in terms of voter turnout at 63.69 per cent, followed closely by Chhindwara, a Congress stronghold, at 62.57 per cent, Mandla at 58.28 per cent, Shahdol at 48.64 per cent, Jabalpur at 48.05 per cent and Sidhi 40.60 at per cent till 3 pm, according to the Election Commission.

Earlier, till 9 am, the polling percentage in the state stood at about 15 per cent, and rose subsequently to 30.46 per cent till 11 am and 44.43 per cent till 1 pm.

Earlier in the day, the chief electoral officer of Madhya Pradesh, Anupam Rajan, said, "Today, mock polls were conducted successfully at 13,588 polling stations ahead of the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha. During the mock poll, certain issues were detected in some balloting units, control units and VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails) and they were promptly replaced. A total of 78 BUs, 59 CUs and 88 VVPATs were replaced." Polling for the Lok Sabha in the state will be conducted in four phases, with the next three phases of voting scheduled for April 26, May 7 and May 13.

The counting of votes has been scheduled for June 4. Madhya Pradesh has a total of 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, making it the sixth-largest state in terms of members it sends to the Lower House. Of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved.