MP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram to go to polls between Nov 7-30
The elections are being held months after 26 Oppn parties formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance in July to take on the BJP.
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram will go to the polls between November 7 and 30 while the results will be declared on December 3, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Monday as it set the stage for the last major electoral exercise ahead of the 2024 national elections.
The Congress wrested power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Hindi-speaking heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh months before the 2019 general elections. But it managed to win only three of the 65 Lok Sabha seats in the three states five months later as BJP returned to power with a bigger majority at the Centre.
The fresh elections encapsulate the country’s diversity—from Rajasthan in the north to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in central India, Telangana in the south and Mizoram in the northeast. They are also the first major polls since 26 Opposition parties formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance in July to take on the BJP in the 2024 elections.
Mizoram, the smallest of the poll-bound states with 40 assembly seats, will go to the polls this year first on November 7. Elections in Left-wing insurgency-hit Chhattisgarh, which has a 90-member assembly, will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana will go to the polls on November 7, 23 and 30.
The term of the Mizoram assembly ends on December 17. The terms of the assemblies in the other four states end on different dates in January.
One-sixth of the constituencies (679) in the country will go to the polls in the five states, where 82 million male and 72 million female voters are eligible to vote. The ECI has set up 177000 polling stations with 101000 of them having live web-casting facilities.
Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, who announced the poll schedule, said special efforts were made to register first-time voters, senior citizens, transgender people and those with disabilities to ensure maximum voter participation. “Every polling station will have all basic amenities to act as an enabling factor,” said Kumar. He added 5.78 million new voters across age groups have been added to the electoral roll.
As many as 940 checkpoints have been set up to prevent the transportation of cash, liquor and drugs, which may been used to influence the election results. A new real-time reporting system has also been set up to ensure coordination between different agencies.
The model code of conduct, which governs political parties and candidates in the run-up to elections and bars government functionaries from making any announcements that can influence voters, takes effect with the announcement of the poll schedule.
In 2018, polls in the five states, which account for roughly 15% of India’s population, were held in four phases between November 12 and December 7. Eighteen constituencies in Left-wing insurgency-hit southern Chhattisgarh voted in the first phase of polls in 2018 and the state’s remaining 72 in the second.
Elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly were held on November 28, the same day Mizoram went to the polls in 2018.
Rajasthan, which has a 200-member assembly, and Telangana (119-member House) went to the polls on December 7 five years back. Early polls were necessitated in Telangana in 2018 after chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao dissolved the assembly in September of that year. Counting of votes was held across all five states and results were declared on December 11, 2018.
Controversy marred the announcement of the poll schedule for the five states in 2018. The ECI’s deferment by over two hours of a press conference to make the announcement triggered criticism. The Congress alleged that the delay was designed to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a free hand at an election meeting that he was to address in Rajasthan’s Ajmer.
At the meeting, the then chief minister Vasundhara Raje announced a waiver on electricity bills of up to ₹10,000 per annum for farmers just ahead of the imposition of the model code in Rajasthan, where the incumbent has not returned to power since 1985.
Both Congress and BJP have faced leadership problems in Rajasthan. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot have openly feuded while Raje has had her differences with the party’s leadership. The Congress is hoping to retain power on the back of welfarism and Gehlot’s delivery record.
The Congress hopes to return to power in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, the largest of the states going to the polls that sends 29 members to the Lok Sabha. It has set a target of winning 150 of the 230 seats in the state. The Congress lost power to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh in March 2020 after the resignations of 22 legislators.
The BJP has since 2003 been in power (barring 18 months between 2018 and 2020) in Madhya Pradesh, where it faces anti-incumbency and infighting. The BJP lost power to Congress in Himachal Pradesh in 2022 and Karnataka in May.
The Congress is particularly buoyed by its performance in Karnataka, where it returned to power on the back of an ideological campaign centred on welfare, social justice, and anti-corruption.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which has since been renamed Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), retained power in Telangana in 2018 while the Mizo National Front (MNF) formed the government in Mizoram, defeating the Congress in its last bastion in the northeast.
Telangana is expected to have a three-cornered contest between the BRS, the BJP, and the Congress. The BRS is hoping to return to power after winning the polls in 2014 and 2018 even as a resurgent Congress is expected to put up a stronger fight. A BRS leader, who did not want to be named, said their internal surveys indicated discontentment among the people against the government.
In Mizoram, the ruling MNF and the Congress have dominated politics. In 2018, the MNF returned to power in Mizoram after 10 years, defeating the Congress. The MNF bagged 26 of the 40 seats and secured a majority on its own with a 37.70% vote share. The Congress, which was in power since 2008, came third with just five seats and 30% of the votes.
The Congress swept the polls in Chhattisgarh in 2018 winning 71 seats in the 90-member assembly after 15 years of the BJP rule. Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has over the last five years consolidated Congress’s position by promoting regional identity.