MP Assembly Elections: Polling ends with 65.50% voting

Bhopal: Votings ended for the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. The voting for all 230 constituencies of the state took place today.

The 65.50 percent voting was recorded in Madhya Pradesh till 1700 hours.

According to State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) VL Kantha Rao, "3,00,782 government employees, including 45,904 women, have been deployed on poll duty across Madhya Pradesh, where 65,341 polling stations have been set up. 17,000 of these polling booths have been declared 'sensitive' and additional vigil will be maintained there. "

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He added, "As many as 1.80 lakh security personnel, including those drawn from central paramilitary forces, have been deployed to ensure free and fair poll. 78,870 EVMs will be used during the poll."

The counting is scheduled to take place on December 11.

HERE ARE THE LIVE UPDATES:

- The 65.50 percent voting was recorded in Madhya Pradesh till 1700 hours.

- Reacting to EVM glitches during voting in Madhya Pradesh today, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "The Election Commission must take responsibility to ensure that these EVM machines function properly."

- 1,545 VVPAT machines, 383 control units and 586 ballot units were replaced across the state, the chief electoral officer of Madhya Pradesh was quoted.

- Man shot at Polling Booth in Madhya Pradesh. He was immediately taken to the nearby hospital where doctors said that his condition is critical. The incident took place in Bhind district's Mehgaon constituency. He was shot by supporters of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) candidate. The candidate, Dr Rajkumar, was kept under house arrest.

- BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya cast his vote for the Madhya Pradesh Elections 2018 in Indore.

- Firing reported from outside booths 120 and 122 in Bhind in Madhya Pradesh. The administration has been keeping senior leaders and candidates confined to a guest house in the district.

- I assure you that on 11th December Congress will form the government with the blessings of the people: Jyotiraditya Scindia after casting his vote at a polling booth in Gwalior.

- Around 10 candidates in five seats of Bhind district have been put under house arrest. Sources say this has been done for security reasons.

- 6.3 percent recorded in Madhya Pradesh till 1000 hours. The state witnessed a turnout of 72.7 percent in the 2013 assembly elections.

- Presiding officer Sohanlal Batham passed away from Guna in MP. The officer had allegedly fallen ill during the voting process.

- Villagers boycott polls in Satna district in Madhya Pradesh. Voters have boycotted polling in Madai village in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district over unavailability of schools in the village.

- Government employee at polling duty in Mhow also passed away after he fell ill while on duty. Kailash Patel, a teacher at Utkrisht Vidyalaya, Mhow who was deployed at Deepika Bal Mandir in Nehru Nagar in Indore-5 constituency

suffered attack at 0650 hours. He was rushed to Shalby hospital where he was declared dead. The collector announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the deceased.

- Police seizes campaign material from BJP's polling agents from a polling booth in Saint Mary's, Bhopal as it was within 200 meters of a polling booth. One person taken to custody.

- Two faulty EVMs in Ujjain have been replaced, 11 VVPAT machines in Alirajpur, 5 VVPAT and 2 EVMs in Burhanpur were also replaced.

- The EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) have reportedly developed technical snag at a few places. The polling at booth number 204 Maharishi Vidya Mandir in Mandla was halted after the polling machine stopped working.

- Congress leader Kamal Nath casts his vote in Chhindwara, MP.

- Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "We’re 100% certain that BJP will form government with an absolute majority. We have set a target of 200 seats and our lakhs of volunteers are working to make it a reality."

- Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP's chief ministerial face, is contesting from his traditional Budhni seat in Sehore district pitted against former Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Arun Yadav.