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Assembly polls: Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram vote today

Last Updated 01 December 2018, 12:23 IST

After an acrimonious campaign, Madhya Pradesh is all set to vote on Wednesday with the BJP hoping for a fourth consecutive term in office and the Congress praying for an upset for the saffron party.

Voters in Mizoram will also cast their vote on Wednesday where the Congress is seeking to retain one of the four states where it is in power.

Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla is facing a stiff challenge mounted by the Mizo National Front led by former chief minister Zoramthanga.

As many as five crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in Madhya Pradesh where Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is seeking fourth term in office while the Congress led by Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia is hoping to return to power after a gap of 15 years.

Ironically, in Madhya Pradesh Chouhan's biggest success, which is a boost to agriculture sector, appears to be his biggest undoing with the farmers, who are angry with him for failing to provide adequate price for their crops.

What may not work in Shivraj's favour is the anger from youth, who are disillusioned over lack of employment opportunities, and traders, who are upset due to the noteban and GST decisions of the BJP government.

As many as 2,907 candidates are in the fray for the 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.

The BJP has fielded candidates in all the 230 seats, while the Congress has fielded 229 candidates, leaving one seat, Jatara in Tikamgarh district, for its ally, Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD).

In regions contiguous to Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party has queered the pitch for the BJP and the Congress.

A new entrant SAPAKS— an upper caste reaction to the pro-Scheduled Caste policies of the government— is also in the fray in 120 seats and supporting independent candidates in 40 other seats.

In Mizoram, a little over 7.68 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections to the 40-member Assembly.

“All preparations are in place and we expect a very high turnout in a peaceful atmosphere,” Mizoram chief electoral officer, Ashish Kundra told DH from Aizawl.

A total of 1,164 polling stations has been set up for 7,68,181 voters of which nearly 55% are women.

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(Published 27 November 2018, 15:17 IST)

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