The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) central election committee comprising party chief JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders approved a list comprising the names of 57 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections at its meeting on 1 October.
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will go to polls on different days between 7 and 30 November and votes will be counted for the five states on 3 December, the Election Commission said on Monday, setting the stage for the 2024 Lok Sabha. Nearly 16 crore voters will cast their votes in these elections, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference in New Delhi while asserting that strong measures are being put in place to make these polls “inducement-free.”
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest from his traditional Budhni seat with the BJP on Monday announcing the names of 57 more candidates for the Assembly elections to be held next month. State Home Minister Narottam Mishra will fight from the Datia seat, according to the list of the candidates released by the BJP. With this, the BJP has so far announced its candidates for 136 seats in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.
As Madhya Pradesh goes to polls, all eyes will be on 29 key Assembly seats, out of the total 230, where the contest will be keenly watched. These include seats held by four-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and state Congress president Kamal Nath.
The key seats to watch out for include Budhni, represented by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan since 2006; Chhindwara, home turf of former CM Kamal Nath; Dimni, where Union Agriculture Minister and strong CM contender, Narendra Singh Tomar has been fielded; Narsinghpur, where BJP fielded OBC leaders Prahlad and Jalam Singh Patel; and Niwas, stronghold of Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste, another strong contender for the Chief Minister’s post.
Other important seats in the state Indore 1 through 3, Lahar, Sanchi, Harsud, Sanwer, Gwalior, Surkhi, Badnawar, Bamori, Raghogarh, Churhat, Sihawal, Maihar, Shivpuri, Chahchoda, Narela, Rau, Ujjain, Malhargarh, and Jhabua.. Polling in Madhya Pradesh will be held on November 17 while the counting of votes will take place on 3 December.
