BJP general secretary and party candidate from Indore-1 constituency Kailash Vijayvargiya cast his vote on Friday and claimed that they would retain power in the state by winning more than 150 of the 230 assembly seats.

Vijayvargiya offered prayers at his Nandanagar home here before casting his vote at a “smart” polling booth set up in a government college.

In the Indore-1 constituency, Vijayvargiya is pitted against sitting Congress MLA Sanjay Shukla.

After voting, the BJP leader told reporters, “We are going to form the government once again by winning more than 150 seats in the state.” He also said that to strengthen democracy, people should vote maximum, especially in urban areas.

Polling began at 7 am across all 230 constituencies, including 47 reserved for ST and 35 for the SC, in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, an official said earlier.

As many as 5,60,58,521 voters, including 2,87,82,261 males, 2,71,99,586 females and 1,292 third-gender persons, are eligible to exercise their franchise. The total number of voters also includes service and overseas electors, the official informed.

A total of 2,533 candidates of political parties and independents – 2,280 males, 252 females and a third-gender person – are vying to enter the state assembly.

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