72 per cent voting at Maihar assembly election in MP

Over 72 per cent voter turnout was registered in the Maihar assembly seat bypoll today in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh.
"Over 72 per cent voters have exercised their franchise till 5 PM. The polling was peaceful," a public relations department official said.
Though 15 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is between BJP and Congress. BJP has fielded Narayan Tripathi who had won the seat in 2013 on Congress ticket before joining BJP in 2014 during the parliamentary elections.
The bypoll was necessitated as Tripathi resigned his seat after joining BJP.
Congress has fielded former BSP leader Manish Patel who had secured third position in 2013 election, polling more than 40,000 votes.

BSP has fielded former MLA Ram Lakhan Singh Patel and Samajwadi Party has fielded Ram Niwas Urmalia.

The counting of votes will take place on February 16.
There are a total of 2,27,803 registered voters in the constituency.
The administration had deployed six companies of the central para-military forces in addition to the police to ensure peaceful voting.