BJP MLA gunned down on polling day in MP

Bhopal, Nov 27 (UNI) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator and former Madhya Pradesh minister Sunil Nayak, a former close aide of Bharatiya Jan Shakti Founder-President and ex-chief minister Uma Bharti, was gunned down today at Tikamgarh district's Prithvipur town during voting.

''The MLA was rushed to Jhansi Medical College. Indefinite curfew has been clamped at Prithvipur from where Mr Nayak was contesting on a BJP ticket,'' said Tikamgarh Collector K P Rahi.

Mr Nayak reached a polling booth following a tip-off regarding booth-capturing and entered into a dispute with a Congress leader's brother at about 1600 hrs.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan condoled the death and expressed grief. He directed the district administration and Superintendent of Police to take prompt action while recalling Mr Nayak's contribution as MLA and minister, an official release said here.

Additional security personnel have been deployed at Prithvipur as several hundred people took to the streets on hearing of the assault on Mr Nayak whose key rival is Mr Brijendra Singh Rathore of the Congress.

Isolated incidents of violence including damage to electronic voting machines, skirmishes between rival political workers and attempts of booth-capturing were reported from dacoity-affected Bhind and Morena districts while naxalism-affected Balaghat, Dindori, Mandla and Sidhi districts did not report any violence.

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