11.35 pc polling till 9 am in MP

Around 11.35 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 amin eight Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh.

Voting for the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in the state commenced at 7 am in a peaceful manner, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V L Kantha Rao told PTI.

"During mock poll conducted before actual voting began, 30 to 40 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were changed because of some technical problems," he said.

The constituency-wise polling percentage is as follows: Morena 10.92 per cent, Bhind 9.76 per cent, Gwalior 10.37 per cent, Guna 9.85 per cent, Sagar 12.87 per cent, Vidisha 13.01 per cent, Bhopal 9.58 per cent and Rajgarh 15.18 per cent, another poll official said.

Long queues were witnessed at several booths, he said.

In Bhopal, Congress veteran Digvijay Singh is locked in a battle with BJP candidate and 2008 Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur.

Congress general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia is seeking a re-election from Guna seat, where he cast his vote at a booth early in the morning, after polling began at 7 am.

His opponent is the BJP's K P Yadav who is contesting his first parliamentary election.

Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is the sitting MP from Gwalior, is in the fray from Morena seat this time.

Lok Sabha elections to 29 seats in the state are being held in four phases. The first (six seats) and second phases (seven seats) were held on April 29 and May 6.

Voting for the last phase in eight seats will be held on May 19 and counting of votes will take place on May 23.