Madhya Pradesh is set for a high-octane electoral contest on Friday as 2,533 candidates will fight for 230 seats in the assembly. The central state will witness a direct contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
The BJP will hope to retain the state it wrested from the grand old party in 2020. The Congress would look to repeat its 2018 success and come to power with a bigger margin to bolster its prospects ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Madhya Pradesh sends 29 members to the Lok Sabha.
Polling Will Be Held Between 7 A.M. to 5 P.M. In Madhya Pradesh
Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm in all the gathering fragments besides in Baihar, Lanjhi and Paraswada seats in Balaghat area, 55 stalls in Mandla region’s Bichhiya and Mandla seats, and 40 surveying stations of Dindori locale, all Naxalite impacted, where casting a ballot time is 7 am to 3 pm, Madhya Pradesh’s Boss Electing Official (President) Anupam Rajan said.
Major Competition between Shivraj And Kamalnath
Fondly revered as ‘Mamaji’, the 64-year-old BJP leader served as the chief minister from 2005 to 2018, and then from 2020 till date. Chouhan is contesting his sixth election from his stronghold Budhni. Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath will be contesting from Chhindwara. He had won the by-election in 2019 by defeating BJP’s Vivek Sahu by over 25,000 votes, months after he was sworn in as the chief minister.
Total Voters In Madhya Pradesh
A total of 64,626 polling stations have been set up in the state. Among these, 64,523 are main booths and 103 associate (sahayak) stations, where number of electors is more than 1,500, Madhya Pradesh’s chief electoral officer Anupam Rajan told PTI.
As many as 5,60,58,521 voters, including 2,87,82,261 males, 2,71,99,586 females, and 1,292 third-gender persons, are eligible to exercise their franchise.
The big Madhya Pradesh battle will witness some high-profile candidates and constituencies.