Bhopal, Nov 13 (IANS): Voting for bypolls on the two Assembly seats of Budhni and Vijaypur began amid tight security at 7:30 A.M. and will conclude by 7 P.M. even as several Congress leaders were allegedly detained by the police in Vijaypur.
While polling in Budhni Assembly seat, the bastion of Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was underway in a peaceful manner, news of disturbances at several polling booths in Vijaypur started pouring in within the first hour after voting started.
The situation in the Vijaypur Assembly has been tense because of firing on tribals two days ago, which led to a political slugfest between the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress.
Both blamed each other for the incident.
The Congress alleged that the party's candidate for Vijaypur bypolls Mukesh Malhotra and several leaders were detained by police soon after the voting started on Wednesday.
However, Sheopur (Vijaypur Assembly seat falls under Sheopur district) police denied the allegations, claiming that Malhotra has been picked from home due to security reasons.
Karahal TI Baharat Singh said Malhotra will be monitoring polling booths under police security.
Police also detained Congress leader Neetu Sikarwar. Congress MLA Babu Jandel along with several party workers reached the Vijaypur police station and staged a protest.
"BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat has resorted to hooliganism to win the election. They want to win the election by firing on the tribals, putting Congress leaders in jail and rigging the booths," MP Congress alleged.
More than 5.3 lakh voters (2.74 lakh in Budhni and 2.54 lakh in Vijaypur) will vote to elect their new Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
Budhni, a high-profile chief ministerial seat represented by Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the last 18 years, will be in focus.
With Chouhan moving to national politics and the Lok Sabha, the contest here is between the BJP's Ramakant Bhargava and former minister and Congress candidate Rajkumar Patel.
While in Vijaypur, the contest is between BJP's Ramniwas Rawat and Congress' Mukesh Malhotra.
In the November 2023 election Rawat had won this seat on the Congress’ symbol, however, he resigned from the party and state Assembly, which necessitates the bypoll.