Bhopal:

A total of 88 candidates, including seven women, are in the fray for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, an official said on Thursday.

Six assembly seats in the state – Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat and Chhindwara – will go to polls in the first phase on April 19.

Ahead of the voting, Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan told a press conference in the state capital Bhopal that voting would start at 7 am and continue till 6 pm.

“Six assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow. These six Lok Sabha seats include a total of 47 assembly constituencies and 13 districts. Out of these 13 districts, 11 districts are fully Parts of it are included. “Both the districts of Katni and Narsinghpur are included,” Rajan said.

“A total of 88 candidates, including 81 men and 7 women, are contesting in the elections to six parliamentary seats tomorrow. Jabalpur has the highest number of candidates with a total of 19 candidates in the fray, while candidates from Shahdur The lowest number is 19 candidates. 10. Polling will be held from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. Besides, the three parliamentary constituencies of Balaghat namely Ranji, Baihar and Palaswada. deemed Naxal affected areas) will be conducted from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm,” he added.

The official further said that there are 13,588 polling stations in the first phase of LS voting in the state and polling teams have visited all polling stations in the state. Among these polling stations, 2,651 sensitive polling stations have been identified.

“The total number of voters for the first phase of LS polls is 1,13,09,636, including 57,20,780 males and 55,88,669 females. The number of third gender voters is 187. There are 1,42,010 differently-abled Rajan Said: “Among the voters, there are 46,463 voters over the age of 85 and 771 voters over the age of 100. The number of voters in the 18-19 age group is 3,44,244, of whom 10,522 are service voters. “

He further added that all arrangements were made at the polling stations keeping in mind insulation and water facilities and medical kits were also provided. Apart from this, there are 1,118 pink polling stations in the first phase of voting in the state, and all polling staff are women.

Meanwhile, while giving information about home voting, Rajan said, “Home voting facility is available for voters above 85 years of age and more than 40 per cent persons with disabilities. In the first phase of LS polls, there were 5,466 voters above 85 years of age. And 2,881 voters with disabilities voted. Besides this, 536 essential service workers, including journalists, voted in the first phase.”

The Madhya Pradesh Lok Sabha elections will be held in four phases. The state will also hold polls on April 26, May 7 and May 13. Counting of votes will take place on June 4.

Madhya Pradesh has a total of 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, making it the sixth largest state in terms of parliamentary representation. Of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates while the remaining 19 seats are unreserved.

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