Madhya Pradesh witnesses 50% turnout till 3pm, Mizoram records 67% voting

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh saw 50% of the voter turnout while Mizoram witnessed 67% of voting till 3pm on Wednesday. A
village in Madhya Pradesh recorded 94 per cent voting. Kalaria village in Agar Malwa district witnessed the record
turnout till 2:30pm. There were 571 votes in the village and 537 out of them have exercised their franchise,
reported media.
One Election Commission official in Guna, and two in Indore have died due to cardiac arrest at the polling booths.
The Congress has alleged that EVMs were malfunctioning in its strongholds across the state and demanded repolling
in the affected constituencies. At least four EVMs and 14 VVPAT machines have been replaced in polling booths
across Madhya Pradesh since polling began.
Speaking to a national news channel before casting his vote in Budhni, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed
confidence that he would get a fourth term and denounced ‘gotra politics’ by the Congress. Around 1.80 lakh
security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling in the state, where the ruling BJP and opposition
Congress will vie for supremacy. The BJP is eyeing a fourth straight term in office, while the Congress is hoping
for a comeback in the state which was once its stronghold.
Polling is also underway for the 40-member Assembly in Mizoram with over 7.70 lakh voters expected to exercise
their franchise in the state where Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla is seeking a third consecutive term and the BJP is
looking to uproot the Congress in its last bastion in the Northeast. The Congress and the Mizoram National Party
(MNF) have ruled Mizoram since 1987 when it became a full-fledged state. Interestingly, no party has been able to
form government thrice since that year. The battle of ballots in Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram is just months ahead of
the Lok Sabha polls slated in the first half of 2019.
As many as 2,899 candidates, including 1,094 independents, are in the fray for the 230 seats, but the main contest
is between the Congress and BJP — the Big 2 of MP politics. The state has 5.04 crore eligible voters.