Bhopal: More than 26 lakh voters will seal the fate of 48 candidates who are contesting bypolls in four constituencies of state-one parliamentary and three assemblies-as votings begin at 7 am on Saturday. The three assembly constituencies where bypolls are scheduled are Jobat in Alirajpur district, Raigaon in Satna district and Prithvipur in Tikamgarh district. Bypolls are also being held in the Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency. Of the 48 candidates in the poll, fray-6 are in Jobat, 10 in Prithvipur and 16 in Raigaon assembly constituency. Sixteen candidates are contesting from the Khandwa LS seat.

As many as 50 companies of Special Armed Forces (SAF) from other states, 8 companies of Madhya Pradesh SAF, 914 officers, 6962 constables, 3123 Home Guards personnel and 3945 special police officers have been deployed to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections. Fifty-five flying squad teams and 64 static surveillance teams have also been deployed. Polling will be carried out at 3944 polling booths across all four constituencies. Of these booths, 865 polling stations have been identified as ‘critical’.