Bhopal, 13 November (HS). Voting for by-elections in two assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh was completed on Wednesday amid tight security arrangements. Voting took place peacefully from 07 am to 6 pm at all the polling stations of Assembly Constituency No. 02-Vijaypur of Sheopur district and Assembly Constituency No. 156-Budhani of Sehore district. Voting was conducted from voters standing in line after 6 o’clock.
According to the information received from the election office, an average of 77.63 percent voting took place in both the areas till 6 pm. Of these, 77.85 percent voting was recorded in Vijaypur and 77.32 percent voting was recorded in Budhni. Voting data has not yet been received from some polling stations, so the voting percentage is likely to increase.
State Chief Electoral Officer Sukhveer Singh said that voters in both the assembly constituencies voted with full enthusiasm and excitement. Huge enthusiasm was also seen among women, senior citizens and youth to exercise their franchise in voting. On this great festival of democracy, long queues of a large number of voters were seen in all the polling stations since morning. Women, elderly and young voters reached the polling stations in large numbers to cast their votes.
He said that under the Assembly by-election-2024, an average voting of 77.63 percent was recorded in both the assembly constituencies on Wednesday (as per provisional information). Among these, 77.85 percent voting was recorded in Assembly Constituency No. 2 Vijaypur and 77.32 percent voting was recorded in Assembly Constituency No. 156 Budhni. He said that during the entire voting period today, continuous monitoring was done through web-casting at the district level and state level.
Some sporadic incidents also took place during voting. A tense atmosphere was seen at the polling booths falling under Veerpur area of Vijaypur Assembly. Due to the uproar, voting was stopped for some time at many polling booths. At the same time, the presiding officer was beaten up at a polling booth. People were also stopped from voting at some polling booths, but voting started after police intervention. Special police force remained deployed at polling booths during voting. Due to the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct in the district, the police kept a special eye on the boundaries set for the assembly constituency.
BJP state president Vishnudutt Sharma and district in-charge minister Rakesh Shukla were stopped by the police at the Bansariya border. Meanwhile, Congress State President Jitu Patwari, who was coming to Sheopur with his supporters via Bandra, was stopped by the police near Kuhanjapur. The special thing was that due to tension in Vijaypur, both BJP and Congress candidates were kept under house arrest in the rest house during the voting by the police administration.
Tension was seen at these polling stations
There was an unexpected uproar in the afternoon at Dord polling booth number 108 of Vijaypur area. Yatendra Chhari, Deputy Engineer PHE was made the Sector Officer of this polling booth. During voting, sector officers were controlling the crowd at the polling booth, which some people protested against. Within no time, people became furious and assaulted the sector officer. The situation was brought under control after the intervention of police and villagers.
A stampede broke out at polling station number 73 Sikheda in Vijaypur at around 1 pm after the crowd went out of control. People alleged that voting was being done by outsiders. In such a situation, the voting process was stopped midway for 15 minutes. The situation was brought under control after police and sector officers reached the polling station. After this the voting process could begin.
A complaint of fake voting was made by the Congress agent at Bhairupura polling station number 69 of Veerpur area. The police was informed about this but Veerpur police only picked up the agent. In such a situation, people reached the police station with the crowd and surrounded the police station for some time, blocking the Sheopur-Morena road. In such a situation, when the police force reached the polling booth along with the officials, the voting process was restarted.
BLO dies while on duty in by-election in Budhni
For Budhni by-election, BLO Narayan Singh Nagar was on duty at High School Murrah. His health deteriorated while on duty. After this he was taken to Madhuban Hospital in Budhni, where the doctor declared him dead. According to the doctor, he died of heart attack.
Collector and District Election Officer Praveen Singh and SP Deepak Kumar Shukla in Budhni area Ladkui, Singhpur, Chhidgaon Mauji, Bhairunda, Borkheda Kala, Gopalpur, Seegaon, Sasli, Rehti, Pandagaon, Chhipaner, Dholpur, Jamonia Kala, Salkanpur, Banya, Unchakheda. , visited the polling stations of many urban and rural areas including Budhni and took stock of the ongoing voting proceedings there. He also discussed with the voters who came to the polling stations. During this, he instructed the officers and employees conducting the voting to conduct the proceedings in an orderly manner. In order to conduct the voting smoothly, apart from the Collector and SP, all the SDMs, Tehsildars, Naib Tehsildars and Sector Officers on duty in Budhni Assembly including the Returning Officer, Assistant Returning Officer continued to visit.
Polling stations were decorated and made attractive
Along with provision of voters’ meetings, wheelchairs, drinking water at the polling stations, many polling stations were made attractive by decorating them with flowers and balloons and welcome gates were also made. Along with setting up tents at many polling stations, mats were laid from the gate to the polling booth. Many polling stations were decorated with rangoli. Anganwadi workers took care of the children of female polling personnel on duty at polling stations. Due to which the women polling personnel conducted the voting process smoothly.