Kolaras: The voting for two two assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh - Kolaras and Mungaoli - has begun on Saturday. This bypoll is considered to be important as the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Congress' Jyotiraditya Scindia are locking horns. The campaigning by both the politicians has been a rigorous one in the past month. While Chouhan claimed "give us five months and the government will deliver work of five years" during campaigning, the Guna lawmaker is confident that Congress will win both the seats for Lok Sabha.
Voting began for the biggest municipal body in Punjab, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, on Saturday morning. Voters started queuing up before 8 am when the voting officially started. The voting will continue till 4 p.m., election officials said. A total of 494 candidates are contesting for the 95 municipal wards. Results will be announced on February 27.
The main fight is between the ruling Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) alliance and the Aam Aadmi Party-Lok Insaf Party alliance. There are over 10.5 lakh voters in Ludhiana. 1,153 polling stations have been set up for voting.
Updates:
- 77 percent voter turn out was recored in Mugaoli and 70 per cent in Kolaras today.
- Poll percentage of 69 per cent and 58.90 per cent for Mungaoli and Kolaras, respectively, recorded till 3 pm.
- Workers of Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party clashed in Digoda village in Shivpuri's Kolaras, a poll official said. Police station in-charge in Mungaoli, Kushal Singh Bhadoria, was removed from his post, the official said, adding that Risheshwar Singh has replaced Bhadoria, news agency IANS reported.
- Ludhiana Municipal Corporation Polls: Voters turn-out till 2 pm is 43.06%
- Voter turnout 44.84% in Kolaras & 47.01% in Mungaoli till 1 pm.
- 16% voter turnout recorded in Kolaras and 17% voter turnout recorded in Mungaoli till 10 am
- During mock poll, 15 VVPATs in Kolaras and 17 VVPATs in Mungaoli were found to be malfunctioning which were replaced later. Voting is currently continuing smoothly at all polling stations, says Saleena Singh, CEO on Kolaras & Mungaoli by-election
- Voting underway for Ludhiana Municipal Corporation elections in 95 wards.
#Punjab: Voting underway for Ludhiana Municipal Corporation elections in 95 wards. pic.twitter.com/qm676uvPi1
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2018
- I have been standing in queue for the past one hour, voting has not started since the EVM is not working:
Local I have been standing in queue for the past one hour, voting has not started since the EVM is not working: Local, Kolaras #MadhyaPradeshpic.twitter.com/O0mCat7cSz
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2018
- EVM at Kolaras' booth number 57 is currently not working, people wait outside to cast their votes.
#MadhyaPradesh: EVM at Kolaras' booth number 57 is currently not working, people wait outside to cast their votes. pic.twitter.com/okAIN5xiOO
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2018
- Voting begins in Mungaoli & Kolaras, visuals from a polling booth in Kolaras.
#MadhyaPradesh by-polls: Voting begins in Mungaoli & Kolaras, visuals from a polling booth in Kolaras. pic.twitter.com/FpfJJoYJtn
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2018
Scindia in his rallies has been reiterating that it is not a BJP versus Congress, but Scindia versus Shivraj battle. The seats in Kolaras and Mungaoli were vacant after the deaths of the lawmakers holding those seats.
Madhya Pradesh will go to polls at the end of this year. MP has been under BJP rule for over ten years now and the party has to tackle the anti-incumbency sentiment.
The results of today's bypolls will be announced on February 28.
(With inputs from Agencies)