Amid tight security, the counting of votes cast on Saturday in the Shahdol parliamentary and Nepanagar Assembly by-elections in Madhya Pradesh will commence at 0800 hrs on Tuesday.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Salina Singh discussed about the preparations of the counting of the votes on Monday with the District Collectors and instructed them to ensure security arrangements.
Official sources said counting of votes polled in the Shahdol parliamentary by-election would be held in the premises of the Indira Gandhi Home Science Girls’ College (Jaisingh Nagar and Jaitpur Assembly segments in Shahdol district), the Government Industrial Training Centre (Kotma, Anuppur and Pushprajgarh in Anuppur district), the District Education and Training Institute (Bandhavgarh and Manpur in Umaria district) and the Model School (Badwara in Katni district).
likewise, counting of ballots in Nepanagar Assembly by-election would be undertaken at the Burhanpur-based Polytechnic College. More than 700 polling officials are being engaged in the counting of votes. Most rounds of polling that is 22 in number would be held in Jaitpur and Manpur. Nepanagar would witness 22 rounds of polling.
A total 66 per cent of a 16,00,787-strong electorate including 7,78,489 women peacefully exercised their franchise in Shahdol while 71.25 per cent of a 2,30,320-strong electorate including 1,11,744 women cast their vote in Nepanagar.
The key contest in Shahdol is between Madhya Pradesh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's Gyan Singh and the principal Opposition Congress' Himadri Singh though 15 other candidates including nine independents — are also trying their fortune. The by-election was necessitated by the demise of Dalpat Singh Paraste (BJP).
In Nepanagar, Manju Dadu (BJP) and Antar Singh (Congress) are locked in a keen contest. Total four nominees are in the fray. The by-election was necessitated by the demise of Rajendra Dadu (BJP).
Anil Meshram would be the invigilator of Anuppur district while Narayan S Ravati and Sanjiv Kumar Prasad would be the invigilator of Shahdol and Umaria districts, respectively. Vinod Kumar would be the invigilator of Badwara.