Today for all 230 assembly seats Madhya Pradesh’s began voting at 7 a.m. The voters can cast their votes until 3 p.m. In this major contest BJP is seeking to retain power in the state where it has ruled for almost 18 of the past 20 years and Congress is eager to unseat the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

Nearly 700 companies of the central forces and two lakh police personnel of the state have been deployed for security during the poll. At about 42,000 polling stations, the webcasting facility has been provided.

Nearly 5.59 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise who will decide the electoral fate of over 2,500 candidates. The voters includes 2.87 crore male and 2.71 crore women voters.

There are over 5,000 booths run by women and 183 polling stations run by the disabled, officials said.
The polls, coming nearly six months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, are crucial for both the BJP and Congress for various reasons.

The BJP apparently has gone for “collective leadership” and has not projected Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as its clear choice for the chief ministerial post but there is no ambiguity in the Congress with Kamal Nath as its clear choice for the post.
A reason for the BJP banking on collective leadership is the perceived “fatigue factor” with the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. Though Shivraj Singh Chouhan may not be personally facing anti-incumbency, there have been reports of a yearning for change among sections of the population.

Bahujan Samaj Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party are also in the fray in the Hindi heartland state and political parties have made special efforts to woo OBCs, Dalits, women, tribals and youth, who will decide the election.
The election is also crucial for Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who led 22 Congress MLAs to join the BJP in 2020 to bring down the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government. Though Scindia is not in the fray, many of his loyalists have been given tickets by the BJP, and there is a tussle with the BJP’s old guard over ticket distribution on some seats.
The Congress won handsomely in the Gwalior-Chambal region in the previous polls and it remains to be seen how many seats it can win with Scindia now in the BJP.
A sizeable section of the state’s population is engaged in farming and political parties have made promises to woo the community. The agriculture sector has seen good growth in Madhya Pradesh in the past few years.

With farmers a crucial factor in the polls, the BJP has promised to increase the support price of wheat to Rs 2,700 and paddy to Rs 3,100 per quintal. The BJP has also made promises regarding cheaper electricity for 100 units and special budgetary provisions for tribal areas.
Like Congress, the BJP has made promises for tendu leaf collectors. It has also made special efforts to woo the Dalits. Kamal Nath has sought to counter the BJP’s Hindutva narrative in the state by showing himself as a “Hanuman devotee”.
A huge Hanuman statue has come up in Chhindwara, his traditional constituency. Both Kamal Nath and Chouhan have crisscrossed the state to shore up the electoral prospects of their parties.

BJP has been in power in the state since 2003, except for a nearly 15-month period in between. Madhya Pradesh will vote for all its 230 seats in a single phase and the counting of votes, with four other states, will be taken up on December 3.