Voting for bypolls in 28 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh began on Tuesday morning, an official said. Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm, while adhering to the Covid-19 restrictions, the official said. The last hour of voting will be for Covid-19 patients and people suspected to be suffering from the disease.
Altogether 355 candidates, including 12 ministers, are in the fray, the official said, adding around 33,000 security personnel have been deployed in 19 districts. There are 63.67 lakh voters in the 28 constituencies and 9361 polling booths, including 3038 booths placed under the critical category, he said. The by-elections in Madhya Pradesh were necessitated after 22 MLAs of the erstwhile Congress government switched over to the BJP in March 2020, leading to the fall of Kamal Nath's 15-month-old government. Three other Congress MLAs followed the lead of Scindia and his supporters, and joined the BJP. Another three seats in the Assembly are vacant due to the deaths of incumbent MLAs.