Madhya Pradesh polls: Voting for 230 seats today, BJP Congress in close battle

Madhya Pradesh will go to the polls today to elect their representatives to the 230-member state assembly in one phase.

Bhopal: In one of the key states, Madhya Pradesh, voting to elect lawmakers to the 230 Assembly seats began at 7 a.m. on Friday. The main battle is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, while other political parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) are also involved in the fray. With over 5 crore voters in the state set to choose their favorite candidates, these Assembly elections matter as they precede the crucial Lok Sabha elections scheduled for next year. Today, the fate of over 2,500 candidates will be sealed as the incumbent saffron party and the grand old party wage a fierce battle.

The main battle in the state involves key leaders of the BJP such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the current chief minister of the state, from Budhni, Prahlad Singh Patel in Narsinghpur, former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar from Dimni, Faggan Singh Kulaste in Niwas and the senior Congress leader. leader and former chief minister Kamal Nath in Chhindwara.

The saffron party’s general secretary and key player in the state elections, Kailash Vijaywargiya, is contesting from Indore-1.

Interestingly, Jaivardhan Singh, the veteran leader of the grand old party, Digvijaya Singh, is contesting from the Raghogarh seat, while Dr. Govind Singh sits in Lahar constituency.

BJP Manifesto

The BJP manifesto promised notable commitments such as providing free education to girls, offering subsidized LPG cylinders for Rs 450, supporting farmers, ensuring houses for all and implementing development initiatives including construction of six highways.

Congress aims to regain power

The grand old party is fully focused on regaining lost ground by promising to tackle major issues such as unemployment and corruption. The promises include health insurance of Rs 25 lakh for people of the state, 27 percent of OBCs and an IPL team for the state.

High-profile rallies

Of the 230 assembly seats, 47 are earmarked for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes. According to the Chief Electoral Officer, the state has established a total of 64,626 polling stations for the elections with 2,533 candidates, including 2,280 men, 252 women and one person identifying as a third gender.

In most constituencies, elections start at 7am and end at 6pm. In areas affected by Naxal activities, the voting period has been specified from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The process of counting votes will take place on December 3.