MP: BJP pushes hard for increasing voting in 4th phase polling in MP on Monday

The party has mobilised its booth level committees, block in-charges of the party and BJP MLAs to spread out in their respective areas of influence to draw voters out of their homes and bring them to the polling booth to vote, a senior BJP functionary told this newspaper on Sunday.

Eight Lok Sabha constituencies falling under Malwa-Niwar region of Madhya Pradesh are going to polls in the fourth and final phase polling in the state on Monday.

“The booth level committees, ‘Panna Pramukhs’ and the elected representatives of the party have been activated in the ground to ensure record polling in the fourth and final phase of LS elections in Madhya Pradesh”, state BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal said.

The voter turnout in the third phase polling witnessed a sharp rise as compared to the second phase polling after the party launched a special drive to improve voting, he said.

The second phase polling had recorded a voting percentage of 58.59 which increased sharply by 7.91 percent to 66.50 percent in the third phase of elections.

The improvement in voting in the third phase polling came following a missive to the effect by Union home minister Amit Shah.

The first three phases of LS elections in Madhya Pradesh saw polling in six, seven and nine seats respectively.

However, the polling percentage in the seats held in the first, second and third phases was less than 7.32 percent, 9.05 percent and 3.66 percent respectively as compared to the average voting in these seats in 2019.

State BJP leadership has however found it a challenging task to increase voting in the final phase polling considering the low key campaigning in the phase.

“All the eight seats going to polls in the fourth phase polling fall under Malwa-Niwar region of Madhya Pradesh, considered a stronghold of BJP. BJP has already geared up to further improve the voting in the phase.

But, there would be significant increase in voting only if Congress would be able to mobilise its cadres to draw its core voters to the polling booth on the day”, a senior BJP leader said.

BJP had won 28 out of 29 seats in the 2019 LS polls in Madhya Pradesh, leaving the lone seat of Chhindwara to Congress.