All eyes on BJP, Congress as Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh go to polls today

Raipur/Bhopal: Voting for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh and the second and final phase of Chhattisgarh comprising 70 seats will be held on Friday, with all eyes on the Congress and the BJP who have been battling it out for the last few months to get to power.

The second and final phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly will decide the electoral fate of political heavyweights like Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, his deputy TS Singh Deo, eight state ministers and four members of Parliament.

The first phase of elections for 20 seats in the Naxal-affected state, which has a 90-member Assembly, was held on November 7 and saw a high voter turnout of 78 per cent.

The ruling Congress, voted to office in 2018 after 15 years in Opposition, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the main contenders for power in the state, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and some regional outfits are also in the fray.

While the Congress has set an ambitious target of winning 75-plus assembly seats, the opposition BJP is seeking to make a comeback to power in the state which it ruled for 15 years non-stop -- from 2003 to 2018.

A total of 958 candidates — 827 men, 130 women and one transgender person —are contesting for 70 seats spread across 22 districts. As many as 1,63,14,479 voters — 81,41,624 men , 81,72,171 women and 684 of third gender — are eligible to exercise their franchise at 18,833 polling booths.

At 26, the Raipur City West seat has the highest number of contestants, while Dondilohara in Balod district has the lowest count of candidates at four. Among the candidates, 70 each are from the BJP and the Congress. There are 43 nominees from the AAP, 62 from the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and 33 from the Hamar Raj Party in the fray. The Mayawati-led BSP and the Gondwana Ganatantra Party, a regional political outfit, are contesting in alliance and have fielded 43 and 26 candidates, respectively.

While the main fight is between bitter rivals BJP and the Congress, a three-way contest is on the cards in several seats of the Bilaspur division where former CM Ajit Jogi’s party and the BSP have pockets of influence. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has also been focusing on seats in the division. Polling time in all the 70 constituencies is from 8 am to 5 pm, except in nine polling booths in the Naxal-affected Bindranawagarh seat in Rajim district, where voting will be held from 7 am to 3 pm for security reasons. The booths in Bindranawagarh where voting will be held from 7 am to 3 pm are Kamarbhaudi, Amamora, Odh, Bade Gobra, Ganwargaon, Gariba, Nagesh, Sahbinkachhar and Kodomali.

Of the total 18,833 booths, 700 are “sangwari” polling booths which will be entirely managed by women personnel.

A total of 2,533 candidates are in the fray for the 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, where the main battle for power is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress. As many as 5,60,60,925 voters — 2,88,25,607 males, 2,72,33,945 females and 1,373 third gender persons — are eligible to exercise their franchise on Friday when single phase voting opens from 7 am to 6 pm at 2,049 polling stations in the state.

Electioneering brought to fore the fissures in the INDIA bloc ahead of next year’s general elections with SP chief Akilesh Yadav accusing the Congress of betraying him by not conceding six seats to his party as promised. The SP has fielded 71 candidates in MP.

Similarly, an ally of the INDIA grouping, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Singh Mann addressed more than 12 rallies and carried out roadshows to muster support for their 66 candidates.

Another constituent of the opposition grouping, Janata Dal (U), is contesting polls in 10 constituencies. The Mayawati-led BSP has fielded 183 candidates, while its ally Gondwana Gantantran Party, a tribal outfit, has given tickets to more than 45 nominees. BSP president Mayawati addressed 10 rallies and attacked the Congress for not acting on the Mandal Commission report while in power at the Centre. She and Akhilesh Yadav, at separate election meetings, blasted the Congress for seeking a caste-based survey now, saying the party did nothing on the issue when it was in power after independence.