Bye-polls for the Mungaoli and Kolaras seats in Madhya Pradesh recorded a high voter turnout on Saturday. The votes will be counted on February 28.
As the polls closed, Mungaoli recorded a 77.05% voter turnout, while Kolaras recorded 70.40%, ANI reported.
The bye-elections were necessitated by the deaths of Congress MLAs Mahendra Singh Kalukheda from Mungaoli and Ram Singh Yadav from Kolaras.
Barring a few instances of electronic voting machines not functioning at a booth in Kolaras and clashes between Congress and BJP workers in Digoda, polling was largely peaceful.
“During a mock poll, 15 Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines in Kolaras and 17 in Mungaoli malfunctioned and were replaced,” Chief Election Officer Saleena Singh said earlier on Saturday. Singh said voting was smooth at all polling stations.
Mungaoli and Kolaras are part of Madhya Pradesh Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia’s Guna constituency, NDTV said. Scindia has addressed over 75 rallies and participated in 15 road shows for these elections. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also held 40 rallies and 10 road shows.
The Madhya Pradesh Police on Friday booked Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Shailendra Jain for campaigning in Mungaoli after the model code of conduct was imposed. Thursday was officially the last day of campaigning.
Assembly elections in the state are scheduled later this year. The ruling BJP has been in power since 2008.
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