Voting under way in bypolls to one Lok Sabha, three Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh

Voting began Saturday morning for bye-elections to one Lok Sabha and three Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, an official said. As many as 48 candidates are in the fray in four constituencies where straight fights are expected between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress. Voting started at 7 am and will end at 6 pm, the official said.

Altogether 26,50,004 voters are eligible to exercise franchise during the bypolls. Of 3,944 polling centres across four constituencies, 865 are deemed as sensitive by the administration. Webcasting has been arranged at 874 polling stations while CCTV cameras have been installed at 361 centres.

Sixteen candidates each are in the fray for bypolls to Khandwa Lok Sabha seat and Raigaon (SC) Assembly constituency. In these seats, two ballot units have been placed in each polling centre due to the high number of candidates. Ten candidates are in the fray in Prithvipur and six in Jobat (ST) assembly constituencies.

Counting of votes will take place on November 2.

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The Khandwa parliamentary seat and Raigaon assembly seat in Satna district were held by the BJP while Jobat in Alirajpur and Prithvipur in Niwari districts were with the Congress. In Khandwa, the BJP has fielded former district panchayat president Gyaneshwar Patil, denying the ticket to Harshvardhan Chauhan, the son of sitting MP Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan whose demise necessitated the bypoll. The Congress has fielded former MLA Rajnarayan Singh Purni.

In Jobat, Sulochana Rawat is the BJP's nominee against Congress candidate Mahesh Patel. The seat fell vacant due to the death of sitting Congress legislator Kalawati Bhuria. Rawat, a former MLA, joined the BJP recently after quitting Congress. She had won from Jobat on Congress's ticket in 1998 and 2008.

In Raigaon (SC) seat, the BJP has fielded Pratima Bagri, the daughter-in-law of MLA Jugal Kishore Bagri whose death necessitated the bypoll. She will face Congress' Kalpana Verma. Verma had been defeated by Jugal Kishore Bagri in the 2018.

In Prithvipur, the BJP has fielded former Samajwadi Party leader Shishupal Singh against Congress's Nitendra Rathore, the son of former minister Brajendra Singh Rathore whose death necessitated the bypoll. Additional chief secretary Rajesh Rajora said 58 companies of special armed forces — including 50 from other states — have been deployed for ensuring fair and peaceful polls. A total of 55 flying squads and 64 static surveillance teams have been pressed into service.

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