Six MP ministers’ constituencies see dip in voting compared to 2018

Bhopal: Overall voter turnout increased by more than 2% in this assembly election, compared to 2018 when the total voting percentage was 75.05. According to the EC statistics, the voting percentage for the assembly election has been 77.15% — an increase of 2.1% in voter turnout.Despite the increase in voting percentage, there are around 50 assembly seats where voter-turnout dipped though slightly including the constituencies where six sitting ministers are the BJP’s candidates. These assembly seats are Khurai, Mhow, Barwani, Badnawar, Amarpatan and Malhargarh. In Khurai, assembly constituency of the minister for urban administration Bhupendra Singh – the voter turnout has been 79.64%. Although the turnout is higher than many other constituencies, yet it was even higher at 81.25% in the 2018 assembly polls. Congress party has fielded a youth leader, Raksha Rajput, to take on the senior cabinet minister.In Mhow, seat of cabinet minister Usha Thakur, voter turnout was recorded at 77.39% on Friday over 1.5% less than the 78.98% voting of 2018. Here, the Congress has fielded Ram Kishore Shukla against the minister for culture and tourism. Former Congress MLA Antar Singh Darbar also contested from this seat as an independent.Voter-turnout dropped by more than 4% in Barwani, seat represented by minister for animal husbandry Prem Singh Patel. In 2018, this seat recorded a voter turnout of 76.65% which in the present assembly poll was 72.55%.In Dhar’s Badnawar constituency, seat of minister for MSME Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, voter turnout was 85.48% in 2018 when he was a candidate of the Congress. Rajvardhan Singh was one of the 22 Congress MLAs who quit the party in March 2020 bringing down the 15-month Congress government. This assembly election, he was fielded as BJP’s candidate. Badnawar had a voter turnout of 85.48% in 2018 and in this election, it was 84.85%.In Amarpatan, minister of state for backward classes and minorities welfare Ramkhelawan Patel has been pitted once again by the BJP against Congress’ former minister Rajendra Kumar Singh. In 2018 election, voter turnout here was 75.76% while in 2023 it recorded a dip of 0.69% and stands at 75.07%.Sanwer is the assembly constituency of minister for water resources Tulsiram Silawat. In 2018, Silawat contested the seat on a Congress ticket and voter-turnout then was 80.43%. He was also one of the Congress MLAs who followed Union minister for civil aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia to the BJP in March 2020. This time, Sanver recorded a voter turnout of 80.24%.