Polling begins for MP bypolls

Bhopal, Oct 30 (UNI) Polling for byelections to Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency and Malehra assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh began at 0800 hrs today across 1696 polling centres, amid tight security arrangements.

Official sources said more than 13 lakh voters in Vidisha and more than 1.84 lakh in Malehra will exercise their franchise till 1700 hrs through electronic voting machines in 1,480 and 216 polling centres respectively.

Vidisha seat fell vacant following the resignation of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan while Bharatiya Jan Shakti (BJS) Founder-President and former chief minister Uma Bharti put in her papers from Malehra.

There are ten candidates in the fray at Vidisha where the key contest is between Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and state Public Health Engineering Minister Rampal Singh and Congress nominee Rajashree Singh. The contest has been rendered triangular by the presence of BJS state President Raghunandan Sharma. The Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate is its state General Secretary Munawar Saleem.

Twenty-two candidates are in the arena at Malehra where the key contest is between Mr Kapoorchand Ghuwara (BJP) and Ms Rekha Yadav (BJS). The Congress has fielded Mr Jagdish Shukla and Mr Surendra Yadav is the SP nominee.

UNI PKJ-AC YA DB0935