29.48% voting in MP LS polls

Bhopal, May 19 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh on Sunday witnessed 29.48 per cent voting in the first four hours of polling to the state's eight Lok Sabha seats in the seventh and last phase of voting in the ongoing general elections, an official said.

As of 11 a.m., the highest voter turnout was recorded in the Dewas constituency with 34.61 per cent, Chief Electoral Officer V.L. Kantha Rao said.

"Voting has so far been peaceful. But in Mandsaur, two polling staff died due to heart attack. Polling was boycotted in five places in Mandsaur and in one place in Malwa under the Indore constituency," he added.

There were also reports of a clash at a polling booth in Jhabua, Rao added.

Voting started at 7 a.m. in 18,413 polling booths in the eight constituencies of Dhar, Khargone, Jhabua, Ujjain, Dewas, Mandsaur, Indore and Khandwa. Polling will end at 6 p.m.

A total of 1.50 crore voters will decide the fate of 82 candidates, including six female, in the fray.

Madhya Pradesh poses a big challenge for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it lost power after over a decade in the 2018 Assembly elections that paved the way for Congress leader Kamal Nath to become the Chief Minister

In Indore, the BJP's Shankar Lalwani is pitted against Pankaj Sanghvi of the Congress, while in Khandwa, the battle is between the saffron party's Nandkumar Singh Chauhan and the Congress' Arun Yadav.

Jhabua will see the Congress' Kantilal Bhuria against the BJP's G.S. Damore.

The remaining seats will also witness a straight battle between the two parties.