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Polling for by-elections at two assembly seats- Budhni in Sehore district and Vijaypur seat in Sheopur district, in Madhya Pradesh are underway and voting turnout at these constituencies is recorded 36.00 per cent and 38.26 per cent till 11 am respectively, according to the data released by the Election Commission of India.
Earlier, the voter turnout of 16.90 per cent was recorded in Budhni while Vijaypur stood at 17.86 per cent in the initial trend of polling till 9 am in the state. Budhni assembly seat is the bastion of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and it got vacant as he got elected as Member of Parliament (MP) from Vidisha constituency in the recently concluded general election 2024. BJP candidate Ramakant Bhargava is contesting from Budhni seat while the Congress has fielded Rajkumar Patel. Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan casted his vote at a polling booth number 26 in Government Secondary School, Jait village in Sehore, for the by-election of Budhni Assembly constituency on Wednesday and showed his inked finger along with his wife Sadhna Singh Chouhan after exercising the franchise. He further appealed to everyone to cast their votes saying voting is the ultimate duty in democracy. "Voting is the ultimate duty in a democracy, I request everyone to definitely vote. I have done it and you should also exercise your franchise. This area, this family belongs to BJP, people have faith in BJP, PM Modi. Ramakant Bhargava will win here with record votes," Chouhan told ANI. On the other hand, Vijaypur assembly seat in Sheopur district fell vacant after Ramniwas Rawat, who was sitting MLA from the seat from Congress party, quit the grand old party and joined the BJP amid the Lok Sabha elections in April this year. Currently, Rawat is the Forest and Environment Minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. Congress candidate Mukesh Malhotra is contesting from the seat. BJP nominee Ramniwas Rawat exercised his franchise at a Government Higher Secondary School Sunbai for the by-elections and urged the public to utilise their voting rights. "My priorities are to provide irrigation facilities, healthcare facilities and employment opportunities. I urge voters to exercise their franchise," Rawat told ANI. Polling for the two assembly seats in Vijaypur assembly seat and Budhni seat are going on and conclude at 6 pm. The counting of votes will be done on November 23. (ANI)
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