Bhopal, Nov 22 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) instructed the officials on Friday to strictly adhere to the security protocols ahead of the counting for the Budhni and Vijaypur bypolls in Madhya Pradesh

“The collector and district election officer, the returning officer, and the assistant returning officer must strictly adhere to all security protocols during counting,” Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sukhveer Singh said.

He said that a three-tier security arrangement has been ensured at venues to count votes.

The vote counting for the Vijaypur bypolls will take place at the Government Polytechnic College, Sheopur. At least 16 tables have been arranged for the counting of the votes at 327 polling stations. The counting will be conducted in 21 rounds.

The counting for the Budhni Assembly constituency will take place at the Government Women's Polytechnic College, Sehore. At least 14 tables each will be arranged in two rooms for counting the votes at 363 polling stations. The counting will be conducted in 13 rounds.

The bypolls to the Vijaypur constituency was necessitated after sitting Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat joined the BJP while in Budhni, bypolls was mandated after sitting BJP MLA and former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan resigned from the state Assembly following his victory in the Lok Sabha.

In Vijaypur, the contest is between BJP's Ramniwas Rawat, who won this seat six- time between 1990 and 2023 on Congress' symbol and Congress's Mukesh Malhotra.

While in Budhni, the bastion of Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is between BJP's Ramakant Bhargava and Congress nominee and former minister Rajkumar Patel.

Voting for bypolls was held on November 13 amid mild clashes and violence along with allegations of booth capturing.