Bhopal: Polling for the naxal affected Lanjhi Assembly seat in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh began today amidst tight security with more than 1.21 lakh voters deciding the fate of 19 candidates in the fray.

Voting for the bypoll began at 07:00 hours this morning at 148 booths including 86 of those that have been identified as sensitive across the assembly.
Till 11:00 hours, about 20 percent electorates had cast their votes, which included 60,196 women, constituting about 50 percent of the total voters, official sources said.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made keeping in view the naxal status of the area, with the Election Commission deploying CRPF and three companies of special armed forces.

A total of 19 candidates are in the fray but the main battle is between BJP's Dharmeshwari Bhatere and Bhagwat Bhau Nagpure of Congress, while Kankar Munjare of Samajwadi party, and Badhuram Devgadhe of Bhartiya Janshakti (headed by Uma Bharti) are also testing their luck alongwith Rajeshwar Chaudhary of Gondwana Gantantra Party.

Others are independent candidates. The seat fell vacant following the death of former BJP minister Dilip Bhatere. His wife Dhareshwari is a BJP nominee for the bypolls. PTI JA DK RSH 10301400 DEL NNNN

Source : PTI