Voting for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023 was held on Friday, November 17. All the 230 assembly constituencies in the state went to polls in a single phase. A total of 71.26 per cent voter turnout was recorded across these 230 seats till 5 pm, as per the data revealed by the Election Commission of India.
Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal recorded 59.19 per cent of voter turnout, while Chhindwara recorded 78.85 per cent. The turnout in Damoh was recorded at 73.83 per cent and in Dhar, it was 72.35 per cent. Meanwhile, Dindori recorded 78.30 per cent polling, Datia 69.66 per cent polling, Indore 64.95 per cent polling and Jhabua saw 73.10 per cent polling on Friday.
The Agar Malwa district recorded the highest voter turnout at 82 per cent, while the lowest turnout was recorded in the Alirajpur district (56.24 per cent).
"Districts like Bhopal, Alirajpur, and Gwalior recorded the lowest voting percentage so far," Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan was quoted by news agency PTI as saying while giving details of the elections after 3 pm.
Madhya Pradesh had seen 60.52 per cent voter turn-out till 3 pm in all the 230 assembly seats, and till 1 pm, the voter turnout in the state was recorded at 45.40 per cent.
The voting for the Madhya Pradesh Election began at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm. However, the voting at three polling centres in Balaghat and at four polling stations in Dindori was held between 7 am and 3 pm. There are three districts that are Naxal-affected in the state which include Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori.
Incidents of violence was reported at polling booths 147-148 of Dimani Assembly constituency in Mirghan of the Morena district as the voting was under on Friday. News agency ANI reported a person sustained injuried after stones were pelted in the area.
Reacting to the incident of violence in Morena, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said, "I spoke with the SP and Collector. An incident occurred there but the SP says that it is peaceful there now and voting is taking place smoothly."
Besides this, Digvijaya Singh claimed that one of the Congress workers was mowed down by a BJP candidate in Chhatarpur.
Singh said, "An incident has taken place in Rajnagar, Chhatarpur where one of our workers was mowed down by the BJP candidate with his vehicle. Police have neither confiscated the vehicle so far nor has the candidate been arrested."
The Congress leader further alleged that the police administration was working under pressure.
> Of the 230 assembly seats across 52 districts, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes.
> There are 2,533 candidates in the fray, including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state Congress chief Kamal Nath.
> The main battle for power is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress. Both the parties field candidates in all the constituencies in Madhya Pradesh. While the BJP fights to retain power in MP, the Congress hopes to get elected again in the state.
> In the last election (2018), the Congress emerged as the single largest party by winning 114 seats. It formed the government with the help of the BSP, the SP and independent MLAs under the leadership of Kamal Nath.
However, the Kamal Nath-led government collapsed in March 2020 after a rebellion by now-Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Congress MLAs loyal to him, paving the way for the return of the BJP government headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
> The counting of votes in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh along with that in Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will be done on December 3.
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