Over 43% voting in Madhya Pradesh till 2 p.m. (2nd Lead)

Around 43.82 per cent turnout was recorded in the fourth phase of polling for the six Lok Sabha seats and one Assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh till 1 p.m. on Monday, the Voter Turnout App data of Election Commission showed.

Maoist-affected Balaghat district, which is voting under high security, recorded the highest 46.32 per cent voter turnout. It was followed by 46.05 per cent polling in Mandla, 45.89 per cent polling in Chhindwara, 45.88 per cent polling in Shahdol, 44.39 per cent polling in Jabalpur and 34.95 per cent polling in Sidhi.

There were also reports of malfunctioning EVMs from some places and both the EVMs as well as the VVPATs were replaced.

Some 1.05 crore electorate are eligible to vote in this phase. A total of 108 candidates are trying their luck in this phase in the state, including a maximum of 26 from Sidhi, followed by 23 from Balaghat, 22 from Jabalpur, 14 from Chhindwara, 13 from Shahdol and 10 from Mandla.

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.

The father-son duo are Congress candidates for the Chhindwara Assembly bypoll and parliamentary seat respectively. In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won five seats barring Chhindwara, which was won by Kamal Nath.

Jabalpur is seeing a tough contest between state BJP President Rakesh Singh and Congress candidate Vivek Tankha.

Monday is the first round of voting in Madhya Pradesh. Votes will be cast in three more rounds on May 6, May 12 and May 19.

--IANS

rak/rtp