BHOPAL: Violence was reported from Jhapdi Padla village in Sendhwa Vidhan Sabha seat during the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2018 on Wednesday morning.

According to reports, a scuffle broke out allegedly after some outsiders entered the village. Soon, locals started firing and set two bikes on fire. A case has been registered.

The Election Commission, however, denied all reports of violence during a press conference.

Till 9 am, the state recorded just 6.32 per cent voter turnout, said MP’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V L Kantha Rao. Reports of multiple Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) failure emerged from various parts of the state. About 100 were also replaced at various polling booths.

One Election Commission official in Guna, and two in Indore have passed away due to cardiac arrest while performing their duties.

As many as 2,899 candidates, including 1,094 independents, are in the fray for the 230 seats, but the main contest is between the Congress and BJP. The state has 5.04 crore eligible voters.

Over three lakh government employees, including nearly 45,000 women, are on poll duty across the state.

As many as 1.80 lakh security personnel, including those drawn from central paramilitary forces, have also been deployed to ensure free and fair poll, Rao said.