The Ghoradongri Assembly constituency of Madhya Pradesh goes to the polls on Monday where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main Opposition Congress have locked horns. Though there are seven candidates in the fray for the by-election, the real face-off is to be between BJP's Mangal Singh and Congress' Pratap Singh Uike.
At present, the BJP has the majority in the 230-member Assembly with 165 seats. The Congress is the distant second with 57. Polling for the seat that got vacated due to the death of BJP's Sajjan Singh Uike will begin at 7 am on May 30 and would come to an end at 5 pm. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 2 at the School of Excellence premises at the district headquarters of Betul.
Betul Collector Gyaneshwar B Patil has confirmed that that polling parties have left for their respective booths. For free and fair polling, the Election Commission has taken action against illegal arms dealers. So far, 238 licensed arms have been deposited while, action against 4627 persons has been taken under prohibitory norms.
The by-poll is another acid test for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, after a major debacle in the tribal-dominated Jhabua parliamentary by-election.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had said on Saturday that elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling during the by-election to Ghoradongri (Scheduled Tribe) Assembly seat.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh told media here on Saturday, "Polling will be held from 0700 hrs to 1700 hrs on Monday. A total of 2,19, 404 voters including 1,07, 083 women and eight third gender members will exercise their franchise."
A total of seven candidates are in the fray for the by-election. They include Mangal Singh Dhurve (BJP), Pratap Singh Uikey (Congress), Pawan Singh Dhurve (Gondwana Ganatantra Party), Barati lal Uikey (Bahujan Mukti Party) and three independent candidates - Kishanlal Baraskar, Rajesh Siyaram and Sukh lal Dhurve. Singh said 350 polling centres had been set up. 120 polling centres have been declared sensitive. The Raipur polling centre is the largest with 241 electors, Panchi is smallest with 140 voters. There are 1,396 polling officials, including 374 presiding officers. She said six companies of the CRPF and the Central Armed Police Force have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling. So far, 24 complaints of poll code violation were received, of which 22 grievances were resolved.