New Delhi [India], April 18 : Balaghat, a pivotal parliamentary constituency in Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday.
The constituency is a General category parliamentary seat encompassing the entire Balaghat district and part of the Seoni district.
Currently, it consists of eight Legislative Assembly segments, including Baihar (ST), Lanji, Paraswada, Balaghat, Waraseoni, Katangi in Balaghat district and Barghat (ST) and Seoni in Seoni district.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress have pitted their candidates, Bharti Pardhi and Samrat Saraswat respectively, setting the stage for a compelling electoral contest.
Even as Balaghat has been a BJP-dominated constituency since 1998, no BJP MP has served on this seat twice.
Madhya Pradesh had recorded 61.57 per cent voting in the 2014 general elections. The percentage rose to 71.16 in 2019.
The second, third and fourth phase of the elections in MP will take place on April 26, May 7 and May 13.
In the 2019 elections, the constituency recorded a total of 1,767,725 electors, with 1,372,018 valid votes cast.
Dhal Singh Bisen of the BJP emerged victorious, securing 696,102 votes, while the Congress candidate Madhu Bhagat trailed with 454,036 votes, marking a significant margin of 242,066 votes.
Both- Congress and the BJP campaigned aggressively to drum up the support for their respective parties.
On April 9, Modi at a rally in Balaghat district hit out at the opposition INDIA bloc saying its constituents were working to protect the corrupt and abusing and threatening him to stop the country's development.
He also said the upcoming Lok Sabha elections were a mission for building a new India and sought people's blessings to take big and historic decisions in the BJP-led NDA's third term.
Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, and Chhindwara are other constituencies that will go to polls in the first phase.
BJP swept the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by winning 28 out of 29 seats. The Congress had emerged victorious from Chhindwara with former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath defeating BJP's Nathan Shah. In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Nakul is pitted against BJP's Vivek Bunty Sahu from the same constituency. In 2019, Madhya Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 71.2 per cent.