Madhya Pradesh Election: On election duty, 3 EC officials die from cardiac arrest

In a major mishap, one Election Commission (EC) official in Guna and two in Indore have passed away due to cardiac arrest at the polling booths as Madhya Pradesh votes to elect the new government in the state.

EC has announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh each for the kin of the EC officials who passed away.

Madhya Pradesh (MP) Assembly Election 2018: In a major mishap, one Election Commission (EC) official in Guna and two in Indore have passed away due to cardiac arrest at the polling booths as Madhya Pradesh votes to elect the new government in the state. In Guna, Sohan Lal Batham, an EC official who was on election duty died due to cardiac arrest. In a similar mishap, a teacher deployed at Deepika Bal Mandir in Nehru Nagar in Indore was hit by a sudden cardiac arrest earlier this morning. A similar kind of incident was reported Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh where a small stampede took place after a minister came at the polling booth to exercise his franchise. A female EC officer who was on duty suffered a minor heart attack and was immediately taken to the nearby hospital. Reportedly, the EC official is out of danger and undergoing treatment. Meanwhile, EC has announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh each for the kin of the EC officials who passed away while on election duty in Madhya Pradesh. Amid the peaceful conduction of polls, malfunctioning of several Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were reported from various districts of Madhya Pradesh. Speaking about the same, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said that extended polling time should be given at those polling booths where EVMs malfunctioned. He also said that his party is in constant touch with the EC on this issue. Slow voting was recorded in the first hour of polls with only 6.32 per cent across the state casting their votes till 9 am. So far, as many as 70 EVMs and VVPATs have been replaced across different regions of Madhya Pradesh. This includes 11 in Raghogarh where Digvijaya Singh's son Jayawardhan Singh is contesting and 17 EVMs in Guna Lok Sabha constituency. Polling is also underway for the 230-member Assembly in Madhya Pradesh with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeking a record fourth term rule under the leadership of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Madhya Pradesh has 5.04 crore, eligible voters.