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Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

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Low turn-out in Madhya Pradesh

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, OCT. 13. Polling was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported today from Nohata and Balaghat Assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh.

The voter turnout was a low-key affair in the Nohata Assembly constituency of Damoh district. According to the State Chief Electoral Officer, Sewa Ram, there was 48 per cent polling in Nohata and 57 per cent polling in Balaghat till 5 p.m. He however added that these were preliminary and not final figures. He said no untoward incident was reported from the two Assembly constituencies where polling was conducted today.

Till 4 p.m., only 44 per cent of the voters had cast their vote in Nohata. Even in Balaghat, the voters came out in moderate numbers to cast their vote. Till an hour before polling ended only 50 per cent voters had turned up in Balaghat.

The outcome of the Nohata Assembly by-election is crucial for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which had won this seat by over 24,000 votes just ten months ago. The Nohata by-election is particularly being viewed in political circles here as a matter of prestige for the Chief Minister, Babulal Gaur, who joined the last leg of campaigning and spent two full days in this constituency.

On the campaigning front, even the Congress party was not to be left behind. The State Congress leaders, led by the Union Ministers, Kamal Nath and Kantilal Bhuria, besides the MPCC chief Subhash Yadav, had put their entire weight behind their party candidate, Ratnesh Solomon. Mr. Solomon, who is a former State Minister, is trying to recapture the Nohata seat from the BJP.

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Low turn-out in Madhya Pradesh