Lok Sabha Elections 2019: All you need to know about Madhya Pradesh ahead of polls 2019
The BJP had swept the national polls in Madhya Pradesh in 2014 and won 27 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the central state.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in 7 phases starting April 11. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.
The Congress party got a major boost ahead of the Lok Sabha 2019 election in the Hindi heartland state of Madhya Pradesh as it wrested power from the BJP after 15 years by winning the assembly polls held last year.
The BJP had swept the national polls in Madhya Pradesh in 2014 and won 27 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the central state. The grand old party had won only two seats that year – chief minister Kamal Nath from Chhindwara and Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna. In 2015, Kantilal Bhuria won the Jhabua-Ratlam by-election following the death of Dileep Singh Bhuria.
The Congress won the assembly elections in November 2018 with 114 seats of the 230 seats in the state. Analysts say that by and large farmers voted for the Congress, and the loan waiver announced by president Rahul Gandhi before the state election proved to be a game-changer for his party.
The Congress in Madhya Pradesh will look to repeat its performance in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Here is all you need to know about Madhya Pradesh ahead of Lok Sabha election 2019:
Polling dates: April 29, May 6, May 12, May 19
Date of counting: May 23
Ruling party: Congress
Number of Lok Sabha seats in the state: 29
Party wise break-up of Lok Sabha seats: BJP- 26, Cong-3
Number of voters in the state: 50.24 million as on February 22, 2019
* Voter turnout in 2014: 61.61%
* Number of assembly seats: 230
*Party wise break-up of assembly seats: Congress- 114, BJP-109, Ind-4, BSP-2, SP-1
* Key leaders across parties: Kamal Nath (chief minister), Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijaya Singh, Suresh Pachauri, Ajay Singh, Arun Yadav, Kantilal Bhuria, Vivek Tankha (Congress); Shivraj Singh Chouhan (ex-CM), Narendra Singh Tomar, Thaverchand Gehlot, Gopal Bhargava, Rakesh Singh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Kailash Joshi, Babulal Gaur (BJP)
* Key issues: Farmers loans waiver and adequate price on agriculture produce, Unemployment, Law and order, Scams including Vyapam and e-tendering scams, cows and cow shelters (Gaushala), the massive transfer of officials and employees, governance.
