Lok Sabha polls: 7 seats up for grabs in MP on Monday

Union minister Virendra Singh Khatik and BJP MP Prahlad Patel are among the 110 candidates whose fate would be decided in polling to be held across seven seats in Madhya Pradesh on Monday.

This will be the second phase of polling in Madhya Pradesh, the first phase having been held on April 29.

Total 15,240 polling booths have been set up across the seven constituencies - Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul - where 1.19 crore people, including 18,822 service voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise, an election official said.

Of the 110 candidates, 14 are in the fray in Tikamgarh, 15 in Damoh, 17 in Khajuraho, 21 in Satna, 23 in Rewa, 11 in Hoshangabad and nine in Betul, an Election Commission official said.

Khatik is the BJP candidate from Tikamgarh while Patel, the former Union minister and sitting MP, is the party's nominee from Damoh. They are pitted against the Congress' Kiran Ahirwar and Pratap Singh Lodhi, respectively.

The Election Commission has also ordered repolling on Monday in Sidhi Lok Sabha seat's booth number 185 located at Demha village, following complaints of irregularities during voting held there on April 29, state's additional chief electoral officer Sandeep Yadav said.

The high-decibel campaign for the seven constituencies saw top BJP and Congress leaders campaigning for their respective party candidates.

All these seats located in the state's Bundelkhand region are currently held by the BJP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally at Hoshangabad for BJP candidate and sitting MP Rao Uday Pratap Singh, while Congress president Rahul Gandhi canvassed support for his party's nominee Diwan Shailendra Singh.

Gandhi also held rallies in Rewa, Tikamgarh, Damoh and Khajuraho.

BJP president Amit Shah addressed public meetings in Rewa, Tikamgarh and Khajuraho.

Lok Sabha elections for 29 seats in MP are being held in four phases. Polling for six seats was held in the first phase on April 29, while eight seats each will go to polls on May 12 and 19.

In 2014, the BJP won 27 seats in the state while the Congress bagged two seats.

The Congress later increased its tally to three after wresting Ratlam seat from the BJP in a bypoll.

The Congress, which came to power in the state in December last year after 15 years, hopes to carry forward the winning momentum while the BJP hopes to repeat its 2014 showing.