Bhopal, May 19 (IANS): Madhya Pradesh on Sunday recorded 48.45 per cent voting till 3 p.m. for eight parliamentary constituencies in the last phase of general elections, while two poll officer died while on duty due to heart attack.

While Devas witnessed the maximum voter turnout at 56.19 per cent, Indore recorded the minimum 38.11 per cent. Khargone recorded 50.51 per cent vote, Ujjain 51.26 per cent, Mandsaur 50.33 per cent, Dhar 49.87 per cent, Ratlam 48.04 per cent and Khandwa 47.01 per cent.

Voters boycotted polling at one of the booths in Agar Malwa and five booths in Mandsaur, Chief Electoral Officer V.L. Kantarao said. "We are trying to convince people to exercise their franchise."

Voting started at 7 a.m. at 18,413 polling booths and will end at 6 p.m. A total of 1.50 crore people have the right to decide the fate of 82 candidates, including six female, in the fray.

Madhya Pradesh poses a big challenge for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it lost power in the state after over a decade in the 2018 that paved the way for Congress leader Kamal Nath to become Chief Minister.

In Indore, the BJP's Shankar Lalwani is pitted against Pankaj Sanghvi of the Congress, while in Khandwa the battle is between the BJP's Nandkumar Singh Chauhan and Arun Yadav of the Congress. In Jhabua, Kantilal Bhuria of the Congress is taking on G.S. Damore of the BJP.

Babu Lal Malviya of the Congress is pitted against BJP's Anil Firozia in Ujjain.

In Mandsaur, Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan is facing Sudhir Gupta of the BJP. In Devas, Prahalad Tipania (Congress) and Mahendra Solanki (BJP) are locked in a close contest.

In Dhar, the BJP has fielded Chhattar Singh Darbar against Congress's Girwal Dinesh. BJP's Gajendra Patel and Congress Govind Mujalad are facing each other in Khargone.