11% voting recorded in Madhya Pradesh (10 a.m.)

Madhya Pradesh recorded around 11.39 per cent voting in the first three hours of polling for the six Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh on Monday till 10 a.m., officials said.

In Sidhi, 11.24 per cent voting was recorded, Shahdol saw 11.90 per cent, Jabalpur 10.96 per cent, Madla 10.87 per cent, Balaghat 12.14 and Chhindwara 11.51 per cent.

In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party had won five seats barring Chhindwara, which was won by Congress' Kamal Nath.

Chhindwara is a prestige battle for Chief Minister Kamal Nath who has fielded his son Nakul Nath from the seat after winning it nine times.

Balaghat, on the other hand, is a Maoist-affected district, and this constituency is on high security alert.

Jabalpur constituency will see a tough contest between state BJP President Rakesh Singh and Congress candidate Vivek Tankha.

A total of 108 candidates are in the fray, including a maximum of 26 in in Sidhi, followed by Balaghat (23), Jabalpur (22), Chhindwara (14), Shahdol (13) and Mandla (10).

A total of 1.05 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.

--IANS

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