Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023: Polling Begins In All 230 Constituencies (Image:ECI)

Polling began for all the 230 assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh by today morning. As said by the Chief Electoral Office of the state, a total of 2533 candidates were listed and the number includes independent candidates as well as the representatives of various political parties. The incumbent Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former CM Kamal Nath were also aligned in the competition. Counting is scheduled on December 3, 2023, and the election will be conducted in a single phase in all its 230 assembly constituencies.

The polling in Madhya Pradesh began at 7 am in the morning and will lead up to 6 in the evening. However, in Baihar, Lanji, and Parswara assembly seats of Balaghat district and some booths of Mandla and Dindori districts, voting will be held till 3 pm, reported the Times of India. In the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attempting to retain their power while the Indian National Congress (INC) worked for an overturn. The polls, which were coming nearly six months ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, are really crucial for both BJP and Congress.

Major updates regarding the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023 voting are,

1. The webcasting facility has been made available at about 42,000 polling stations.
2. Two lakh security personnel from the department of state police have been deployed.
3. Nearly 700 companies of central forces were also deployed considering security reasons.
4. Number of constituencies in the state: 230
5. Number of polling stations: 64,523
6. Average number of electors per polling station: 845
7. Total number of candidates fielded: 2533
8. Total number of political parties in the competing front: 106
9. The ruling BJP has 230 candidates in total, covering all the constituencies, among which 203 are male and 27 females.
10. The Congress also has 230 candidates, 200 are male and 30 are females.
11. The Aam Aadmi Party has 66 competitors – 54 male, 11 female and one transgender.
12. Number of independent candidates: 1166.
13. Nearly 5.59 crore civilians are eligible to cast their vote from the state. The count includes 2.87 crore male and 2.71 crore women voters.
14. Over 5,000 booths run by women and 183 polling stations run by the disabled.
15. Facilities like wheelchairs, ramps were all arranged at the polling stations.

Voter Statistics

The state has 75,427 service voters, and 5,05,146 PwD voters. 6,53,640 are aged above 80 and 5,124 among the voters are aged above 100.

Madhya Pradesh is witnessing a strong battle between the BJP and the Congress. The BJP expects an easy win looking back to the state’s previous history. The sitting Chief Minister 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). Meanwhile, the Congress hopes to overturn the rulings side, mainly articulating the corruptions and mistakes of the government, boredom with a long-playing incumbent, and a yearning for change, says the Indian Express.

For Congress, BJP, and AAP, its major national leaders had already super-headed the campaigns – including Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi, Priyanka Gandhi, Amit Shah, J P Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Yogi Adityanath, Mallikarjun Kharge, Akhilesh Yadav, and Arvind Kejriwal. .