Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram – the five states which went to polls in the last few weeks – will know the winners on December 3 when the results are declared after the counting of votes. The battle was hard fought with the contestants throwing their entire might to ensure their electoral victory.
While the states and their voters wait for the final results, the end of voting means that pollsters are out with their predictions. The exit polls for Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram will be out in a few hours. The exit polls will give the public and voters something to chew on till the postal ballots are counted and electronic voting machines opened on Sunday (December 3).
Telangana has 119 Assembly constituencies and the main contest has been between Bharat Rashtra Samithi of K Chandrasekhar Rao and the Congress. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been trying hard to become a major player in the state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the party’s campaign.
Rajasthan has been a two-party state which has not returned an incumbent government for the last several Assembly elections. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is confident of breaking this jinx but the BJP has been upbeat and is eyeing the power in Jaipur. The state has 200 Assembly seats.
The BJP has been in power in Madhya Pradesh, which has 230 seats, since 2003 except for a brief period of December 2018 to March 2020. The party led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been at the helm of affairs since the end of November 2005 except for the period mentioned above. He is confident of ensuring BJP’s return to power while Congress leader Kamal Nath has claimed that his party is sure of forming the next government.
Chhattisgarh had been a BJP bastion since its formation in late 2000 but the party was routed in the last Assembly election in 2018. The Congress came back to power and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has led the campaign to retain power. The state has 90 Assembly constituencies.
The tiny northeastern state of Mizoram is ruled by Mizo National Front. The state has 60 seats.