Madhya Pradesh elections: Voting begins across 230 seats; CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan among key candidates

Madhya Pradesh assembly elections: Voting across the 230-member state assembly has begun and the fate of as many as 2,533 candidates is on the line. The polling will last till 6pm in majority of the areas and the voting time from is 7 am to 3 pm in the Naxal affected areas. Of the 2,553 candidates of political parties and independents, 2,280 are males, 252 are females and one third gender person are in the fray. 

The number of critical polling stations are 17,032 whereas 5,260 booths have all-women staff. The polling booths that recorded a very high turnout or reported violence during previous elections are called critical polling stations. Counting of votes will be held on December 3.  

Congress vs BJP: Key candidates, poll promises 

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor Kamal Nath are among the key contenders in these polls. While Chouhan will fight from Budhni, Kamal Nath is contesting from Chhindwara and BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayavargiya is contesting from Indore-1.

Three Union Ministers-- Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel, and Faggan Singh Kulaste are also contesting the polls. Tomar is contesting from Dimni, Patel in Narsinghpur and Kulaste from Niwas. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's son Jaivardhan Singh is fighting from Raghogarh whereas former Chief Minister Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh is contesting from Churhat. 

Three Lok Sabha MPs of the BJP -- Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak -- are also in the fray. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have also fielded their candidates. 

The BJP made many key promises in its manifesto including subsidised LPG cylinders at Rs 450, support for farmers, free education for girls, homes for everyone, and developmental projects including 6 expressways. The Congress also made promises such as tackling unemployment and corruption, Rs 25 lakh health insurance coverage for all people in MP, 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and formation of an IPL team for the state. 

Madhya Pradesh 2018 result

In 2018, the Congress was the single largest party with 114 seats and formed the government with the help of BSP, SP and independents under Kamal Nath's leadership. The government, however, collapsed two years later in 2020 following a rebellion by the current Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and the MLAs loyal to him. With this, the BJP government headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan returned to office. 

(With India Today, agency inputs)

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