LS polls: 20.93 per cent voter turnout till 11 am in MP

An average 20.93 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 11 am in eight Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh where polling was underway on Sunday.

Voting was underway since 7 am in a peaceful manner in Bhopal, Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha and Rajgarh constituencies in the third phase of elections in the state, state Chief Electoral Officer V L Kantha Rao said.

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

The voting figures till 11 am were: Morena 13.88 per cent, Bhind 17.64 per cent, Gwalior 16.86 per cent, Guna 25.08 per cent, Sagar 22.33 per cent, Vidisha 23.69 per cent, Bhopal 23.58 per cent and Rajgarh 25.16 per cent, he said.

Long queues were seen 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.

Altogether 138 candidates, including 14 women, are in the fray for these eight Lok Sabha seats, of which seven were won by the BJP in 2014.

Total 18,141 polling booths have been set up where over 1.44 crore people, including 32,909 service voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise, the official said.

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.