MP Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya casts vote with family in Indore

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], May 13 (ANI): Madhya Pradesh Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya on Monday cast his vote in Indore and appealed to voters to exercise their franchise.

Voting in Indore along with seven other parliamentary seats of Madhya Pradesh which include Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Ratlam, Dhar, Khargone and Khandwa is underway in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election 2024. Voting began at 7 am and would continue till 6 pm, according to the Election Commission.

Vijayvargiya along with his family reached booth number 258, Sugni Devi College in Indore and exercised the franchise.

After casting his vote, Vijayvargiya told reporters, “It is a kind of festival. The way we celebrate our festivals with family, similarly we have come with our entire family members to vote because we consider it a festival. I appeal to everyone to go and vote.”

When questioned about state Congress chief Jitu Patwari appealing to the public to vote for NOTA, the BJP leader said that the appeal had no impact.

“There is no impact of appeal for NOTA in the constituency. The voters are voting in favour of the BJP,” Vijayvargiya said.

Notably, Akshay Kanti Bam, who was the Congress nominee from the Indore parliamentary seat, pulled back his nomination paper and switched his sides to the saffron party on April 29.

After that, the Congress party appealed to the people of Indore parliamentary seat to vote for ‘NOTA’ in the Lok Sabha elections.

BJP’s incumbent MP from Indore, Shankar Lalwani is contesting again from the seat.

When Vijayvargiya was asked about the voting in the Malwa-Nimar region, which is considered his area of influence, he said, “Voting is going quite well and everyone has one target to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of the country for the third time.”

Nonetheless, Indore recorded the lowest 25.01 per cent voter turnout till 11 am among the eight parliamentary seats undergoing polling in the state.

Dewas is leading the voter turnout charts with 35.83 per cent voting followed by Ujjain 34.25 per cent, Mandsaur 34.12 per cent, Ratlam 34.04 per cent, Khargone 33.52 per cent, Dhar 32.62 per cent, Khandwa 31.87 per cent, and Indore 25.01 per cent till 11 am so far in the state.

Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh are being conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling was held on April 19, the second phase took place on April 26 and the third phase concluded on May 7.

The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

With 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, Madhya Pradesh ranks sixth among all states in terms of its representation in the Lower House. Of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved.