In Madhya Pradesh, moderate to brisk polling is going on in all the 230 assembly segments of the state. Chief electoral officer Jaideep Govind told AIR correspondent that 15 per cent polling has been reported in the early two hours. About 20 per cent polling has been reported in Hoshangabad, Katni and Indore district. He said that poling is by and large peaceful. He claimed that reports about violent incidents in Bhind and Morena districts are not true. He said that problems were detected in Electronic Voting machines in five places and they were replaced.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan cast his vote at his native village Jait in Sehore district. Union minister Kamalnath cast his vote at Shikarpur in Chindwara. Leader of opposition Ajay Singh cast his vote in Churhat. Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, former union minster Suresh Pachori, Member of Parliament Maya Singh and Yashodhra Raje Scindia were among the prominent persons who exercised their franchise in the early hours. A polling officer was died of heart attack in Badwara segment in Katni district this morning.
A total of 53946 polling booths have been set up in the state. 14950 polling booths have been declared critical. As many as 514 polling booths have been set up in Naxal-prone areas. More than four crore 64 lakh voters will decide the political fate of in all 2583 candidates including 200 women candidates. 552 companies of security forces and more than forty thousand home guard jawans have been deployed for the security purposes. Two helicopters are keeping vigil in the Naxal affected Balaghat and Singrauli districts.
In Mizoram, polling began at 7 this morning, amidst tight security, to elect their representatives in 40 Assembly Constituencies. Voting will end at 4 this afternoon. 142 candidates are in the fray and more than 6.9 lakh voters, including 3.5 lakh females, are expected to exercise their franchise. AIR correspondent reports that for the first time in the country, Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trails, VVPAT are being used in 10 Assembly segments in this election. VVPAT is a machine attached to the Electronic Voting Machines which allows voters to check if their votes were cast the way they wished.
