Polling ends for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Assembly elections

Bhopal, November 17

Polling for election to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assemblies was held on Friday.

Madhya Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 71.16 per cent till 5 pm on Friday as polling was held for the 230-member legislative Assembly, an election official said.

Voting in Naxalite-affected Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori districts ended at 3 PM while it continued till  6 PM in other parts of the state.

Polling began at 7 am across all 230 constituencies.

In Balaghat district, Baihar assembly constituency recorded a turnout of 80.38 per cent, Lanjhi 75.07 per cent and Paraswada 81.56 per cent.

There are 2,533 candidates in the fray, including chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the BJP and his predecessor and state Congress chief Kamal Nath.

The single-phase voting covering all the 230 assembly seats — 47 of them reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes — has more than 5.6 crore registered electors, the official said.

Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh recorded a voter turnout of 67.34 per cent till 5 pm.