Bhopal, February 24: Voting for bye-elections to the Kolaras and Mungaoli Assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh began on Saturday amid tight security. Polling in both the constituencies began at 8 AM and will continue till 5 PM. The counting of votes for the two constituencies is scheduled to take place on February 28, 2018. As per reports, 16% voter turnout was recorded in Kolaras and 1 voter turnout was recorded in Mungaoli till 10 am. The bye-elections were necessitated by the deaths of Congress MLAs Mahendra Singh Kalukheda from Mungaoli and Ram Singh Yadav from Kolaras.

As per reports by ANI, the electronic voting machine at booth number 57 in Kolaras was not working in the early hours. A local of the town was quoted by ANI that voting had not begun there due to the faulty machine, and that he had been standing in the queue for an hour.

Saleena Singh, CEO on Kolaras & Mungaoli by-election informed that during mock poll, 15 VVPATs in Kolaras and 17 VVPATs in Mungaoli were found to be malfunctioning which were replaced later. Singh added that voting is currently continuing smoothly at all polling stations.

Madhya Pradesh sends 40 members to the Indian Parliament. 29 members are elected to the Lok Sabha and 11 members are elected to the Rajya Sabha. The BJP has been in power for 15 years in the state has pitched for development in the Congress bastion.

Currently, the state is under the rule of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Chouhan, who is currently serving his third term as Chief Minister, is making all efforts to extend the BJP's string election run since 2014. Chouhan has served as the state's CM since 2005, with his party holding power since 2003.

As per reports, the Congress has not yet named a chief ministerial candidate for the assembly elections. As per reports by NDTV, just ahead of the polls in the state, the district collector of Ashoknagar BS Jamod was removed by the election commission after Congress complained of massive discrepancies in electoral rolls.

The two constituencies - Mungaoli and Kolaras have seen high-voltage campaigns from BJP and the Congress and efforts are being made by each party to get a hold over the two seats. Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia's has termed the by-elections in the state as a personal contest between him and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Chouhan has held 40 rallies and 10 road shows while Scindia has addressed over 75 rallies and participated in 15 road shows for these elections. It must be noted that Mungaoli and Kolaras fall under Scindia's parliamentary constituency Guna which were earlier held by the Congress.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 24, 2018 10:31 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).