By IANS
Bhopal : A by-election was held in the Maoist-affected Lanjhi assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district Tuesday with over 70 percent votes polled.
There are 19 candidates in the fray, but the main contest is between Dhareshwari Bhatere of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bhagvat Bhau Nagpure of the Congress.
Among other candidates are Bharatiya Janshakti (BJ) candidate Badhuram Devgadhe, Janta Party’s Kankar Munjare, and Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) nominee Rajeshwar Choudhary.
Voting began at 7 a.m. at 150 booths, including 84 identified as sensitive. The constituency has 121,000 voters, including 60,196 women.
“An estimated 70 to 75 percent votes were cast in Tuesday’s polling in Lanjhi constituency,” Balaghat Collector Gulshan Bhamra told IANS by phone.
The seat fell vacant following the death of former BJP minister Dilip Bhatere. His wife Dhareshwari is the BJP candidate.
While the BJP was harping on the development works carried out by it in the past four years, the main opposition Congress blamed the government for the deteriorating law and order situation, slow pace of development and rampant corruption.
Five companies of the Central Reserve Police Force and three companies of the state’s Special Armed Force were deployed to ensure peaceful polling.