Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023: Counting Begins By 8 AM Today
The much-anticipated legislative assembly election results of four Indian states – Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh – will be declared shortly. The counting will begin by 8 am on Sunday, December 3 and the results are expected to be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In Madhya Pradesh, the four-time Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan is hoping to form a government, but confronted a strong competition with the Indian National Congress in the campaign time, led by the former CM of the state, INCs Kamal Nath.
Madhya Pradesh, where the recent elections were all outright battles between the ruling BJP and Congress, is on high surveillance as this edition is also anticipated to be stiff encounter between the two parties. Congress seems more confident as backed by the newly contrived opposition alliance INDIA, while BJP affirmed to retain the government despite any cost.
The state witnessed polling on November 17, and the BJP nominated seven MPs, including three Union Ministers, and a general secretary in the candidate list. According to the Chief Electoral Officer office of Madhya Pradesh, the state fielded 2533 candidates in total across various political parties and includes independent candidates.
The ruling BJP had 230 candidates in total, covering all the constituencies, among which 203 are male and 27 females. Among the 230 candidates of Congress, 200 are male and 30 are females. The Aam Aadmi Party was also there in the forefront of battle with a total of 66 competitors – 54 male, 11 female and one transgender. 106 political parties have filed nominations, and among the candidates, 1166 are independent competitors.
The BJP expects an easy win looking back to the state’s previous history. The sitting Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is there in the office since 2005, except a two-year break in 2018 to 2020. He is the longest-serving CM of Madhya Pradesh (4 times) and also the national Vice-President of BJP – a steadfast labourer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
