MP local urban body polls: The counting for the first phase of local urban body polls in Madhya Pradesh, including municipal corporations of Bhopal and Indore, began at 9 am on Sunday, a poll official said.
Under the first phase, polling was held in 11 municipal corporations, 36 nagar palikas and 86 nagar parishads on July 6.
“The postal ballots will be counted first followed by votes recorded in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM),” the official said.
Elections were held for the posts of mayor and corporators in these local bodies spread in 44 districts of the state.
The BJP and Congress are locked in direct contests in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Ujjain, among other seats.
The opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh has set up a special control room for the announcement of poll results in 11 municipal corporations and also arranged a helicopter for state unit chief Kamal Nath to rush to any city from where irregularities are reported.
The ruling BJP laughed it off claiming Nath was just using the polls as a ploy to fly around, and that the results would anyway bring him "down to earth".
The local bodies' elections in the state for 413 municipalities, including 16 Nagar Palika Nigam, 99 Nagar Palika Parishad and 298 Nagar Parishad were held in two phases on July 6 and July 13.
The counting for the second phase of polls will be held on July 20, the official added.
(With inputs from PTI)
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