BHOPAL : A voter turnout of 48.52 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in the fourth phase of polling for eight parliamentary seats in the state, according to the data released by the Election Commission of India.
Voting in eight parliamentary seats of Madhya Pradesh which include Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone and Khandwa is underway from 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
Dewas continued to lead the voter turnout charts with 52.11 per cent voting followed by Khargone 51.48 per cent, Ratlam 51.13 per cent, Mandsaur 50.39 per cent, Ujjain 49.71 per cent, Dhar 49.37 per cent, Khandwa 48.15 per cent, and Indore 38.60 per cent till 1 pm so far in the state.
Earlier, the voter turnout was recorded 32.38 per cent till 11 am and 14.97 percent voting till 9 am in the fourth phase of LS polls 2024 in the state.
During the second phase of voting on May 7, the state recorded 44.67 percent voting till 1 pm and the final voter turnout stood at 66.75 per cent in the second phase of polling in the state.
Addressing the press conference, Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan said that the polling for the fourth phase started on the scheduled time in the state after the mock poll, and the polling was going on peacefully in the state.
“Today, voting is going on at 18,007 polling stations of eight parliamentary constituencies in the fourth and the final phase of LS poll 2024 in the state. Mock poll was conducted in the presence of polling agents at the polling stations as per the prescribed procedure on Monday morning,” Rajan said.
During the mock poll, some Balloting Unit (BU), Control Unit (CU) and VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) faced problems and they were replaced. There were a total of 47 BUs, 48 CUs and 90 VVPATs replaced, the officer said, adding that after the beginning of actual polling from 7 am onwards, a total of 13 BUs, 13 CUs, 35 VVPATs were changed which reported issues.
“The voter turnout stood at 32.38 per cent in the first four hours till 11 am in the state. During the previous 2019 general elections, the polling percentage was 29.48 per cent in the fourth phase till 11am,” Rajan said.
Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh are being conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling was held on April 19, the second phase took place on April 26 and the third phase concluded on May 7.
The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
With 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, Madhya Pradesh ranks sixth among all states in terms of its representation in the Lower House. Of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved. (ANI)