A newly-wedded couple at a polling station after casting their votes for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Balaghat district, Friday.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bhopal: Poll officials in Madhya Pradesh on Friday put their best foot forward to ensure high voting in the Lok Sabha elections with initiatives like offering flowers and applying 'tilak' on the foreheads of those exercise their franchise.
Till 5pm, an average voter turnout of 63.25 per cent was recorded in Balaghat, Chhindwara, Jabalpur, Mandla, Shahdol and Sidhi Lok Sabha seats in the state, officials said.
In Shahdol, poll staff welcomed elderly voters with flowers and garlands and applied tilak, leaving several of those who braved the heat to exercise their franchise very happy, eyewitnesses said.
Kavita, who got married on Thursday night in Bemhori village in Shahdol's Budhar tehsil, ensured she voted before leaving for her marital home in Padmania village.
Kavita cast her vote in her wedding attire, a kin said, adding her parents and in-laws were happy with her decision.
In tribal Mandla district's Nainpur's Makke booth no. 55, youth Durgesh Bhanvre came to vote with turmeric smeared on his face and clothes after taking part in pre-wedding rituals.
A bunch of transgender persons voted in the afternoon in booth number 161 in Kohaliya in Junnardeo, which is part of Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat.