Voting in Madhya Pradesh: Over 28 pc voter turnout by 11 am, heavyweights cast votes

Voters show their identification cards as they wait in a queue at a polling station in MP/ PTI

Voting in Madhya Pradesh: The polling for the 230-member assembly began on Friday morning, witnessing a significant voter turnout of 28.18 per cent by 11 am, a PTI report stated citing an official update.

There are nearly 2,533 candidates in the fray, including prominent figures like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor and rival, Kamal Nath. Of the 2,533 candidates, 2, 280 are men, 252 are women and one person is of third gender.

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According to PTI, the reports from the polling official indicated that by 11 am, 28.18% of eligible voters had exercised their franchise in the state.

The voting process began at 7 am across all 230 constituencies encompassing 47 reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 35 for Scheduled Castes (SC), the official further told PTI.

Reportedly, many heavyweights have already cast their votes; the notable personalities who cast their ballots early in the day include Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, his family, Kamal Nath along with his family, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, State BJP President VD Sharma, BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, Home Minister Narottam Mishra, Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Industries Minister Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, and the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan.

Other significant voters included senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's son and former minister Jaivardhan Singh who is currently contesting from the Raghogarh constituency. He was accompanied by his family as he went to cast his ballot.

The PTI report cited voters saying that there queues of women at various polling booths in the state including Hoshangabad which is indicative of women's active participation in elections and thereby politics.

The voting is scheduled to continue till 6 pm across most polling stations with exceptions in Naxal-affected areas. The state CEO on Thursday announced that in areas of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori districts, polling will conclude at 3 pm.

The Election Commission has set up a total of 64, 626 polling stations with 64,523 being the main booths and 103 associate (sahayak) stations to facilitate the electoral process for 5,60,58,521 eligible voters.

With agency inputs