Balloting picks up in Madhya Pradesh

Voting picked up in Madhya Pradesh's nine Lok Sabha constituencies as the day progressed, officials said.

An Election Commission official said that in the initial three hours, over 15 percent balloting took place.

As many as 118 candidates are in the fray in the nine constituencies - Chhindwara, Satna, Rewa, Balaghat, Sidhi, Shahdol, Mandla, Jabalpur, and Hoshangabad - where over 11 million voters will decide their fate.

Polling for the rest of the constituencies will be held over the next two phases April 17 and 24.

In Chhindwara, Congress leader and union minister Kamal Nath is pitted against Bharatiya Janata Party's Choudhary Chandrabhan Singh.

Voting is taking place at 16,592 polling stations where as many as 132,736 poll officials are on duty.

The Maoist-affected constituency of Balaghat is on high alert.