By: Dr. Nosheen Ali, Bureau Chief-ICN Madhya Pradesh
BHOPAL: MP is voting to elect a 230-member Assembly, for which as many as 2,899 candidates, including 1,094 independents.
75 per cent votes were cast in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls on Wednesday.Long queues of enthusiastic voters have been seen outside many polling stations.
BJP is contesting 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.
The BSP has fielded 227 candidates, while the SP is contesting on 52 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), contesting the Madhya Pradesh elections for the first time, has fielded 208 candidates.
The BJP’s voter share in the 2013 assembly elections was 44% with 165 seats, while the Congress got 36% with 58 seats.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate from Budhni seat, and his wife Sadhana Singh cast their votes at his native village Jait.
After having cast his vote in Budhni, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told that BJP is aiming for 200 seats.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh says, “I am certain that the Congress is winning this time and we’re winning comfortably.”
BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia were among early voters.
The battle of ballots in Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram is just months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls slated in the first half of 2019. Results of the Assembly polls 2018 will be declared on December 11.
