50.3 pc voter turnout till 3 pm in MP

Around 50.3 per cent of 1.44 crore voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm on Sunday in eight Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh, an official said.

Voting was underway since 7 am in Bhopal, Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha and Rajgarh constituencies in the third phase of elections in the state, Chief Electoral Officer V L Kantha Rao said.

"During mock poll conducted before the actual voting began, 30 to 40 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were changed because of some technical problems," he said.

Till 3 pm, Rajgarh seat recorded the highest 59 per cent polling, followed by Guna-57.4 per cent, Vidisha-54.72 per cent, Bhopal-51.06 per cent, Sagar-50.28 per cent, Gwalior 46.66 per cent, Bhind 44.12 per cent and Morena-40.56 per cent, he said.

Long queues were seen at several polling booths across the eight constituencies, he added.

In Bhopal, Congress veteran Digvijay Singh is contesting against BJP candidate and 2008 Malegaon blast accused Pragya ...