Assembly Election Live Updates: Voting Begins For Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Assembly Polls

Assembly Election 2023 Live Updates: Counting of votes for both states will take place on December 3

New Delhi:

The voting for Madhya Pradesh’s all 230 assembly seats and Chhattisgarh’s 70 seats–in the second phase of the election–begins.

In both of these Hindi heartland states, the main electoral fight is between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.

While in Madhya Pradesh, the incumbent is the BJP, in Chhattisgarh, it is the Congress that is seeking to retain power.

Counting of votes for both states will take place on December 3, along with votes for Telangana, Rajasthan and Mizoram, where elections are taking place in this round. 

Here are the live updates on Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023:

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Madhya Pradesh Elections | BJP candidate from Indore-1, Kailash Vijayvargiya and his wife Asha Vijayvargiya cast their vote at a polling booth in Indore.

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh Elections | BJP candidate from Indore-1, Kailash Vijayvargiya and his wife Asha Vijayvargiya cast their vote at a polling booth in Indore. pic.twitter.com/Mzzz3u6V4J

– ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2023

Madhya Pradesh elections | State BJP president VD Sharma holds a meeting at BJP Control Room in Bhopal.

VD Sharma says “Our state BJP team is monitoring the elections underway in the state. Our workers in the Control Room are making sure that the elections are organised in the best possible way…People of the state will bless the BJP and we will get a huge majority. BJP is going to create history in Madhya Pradesh…”

Madhya Pradesh Elections | Congress candidate from Rau, Jitendra (Jitu) Patwari and his mother cast their votes at a polling booth in Indore.

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh Elections | Congress candidate from Rau, Jitendra (Jitu) Patwari and his mother cast their votes at a polling booth in Indore. pic.twitter.com/birpfLI0hK

– ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2023

Chhattisgarh Elections |
A differently-abled voter being helped to reach the polling booth, at a polling station in Raipur.

#WATCH | Chhattisgarh Elections | A differently-abled voter being helped to reach the polling booth, at a polling station in Raipur. pic.twitter.com/eeJ8eEdX0m

– ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2023

Just In|  Voting begins for the second phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections; remaining 70 seats in the fray.

Madhya Pradesh Elections | State Congress president and party’s candidate from Chhindwara, Kamal Nath casts his vote at a polling booth here.

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh Elections | State Congress president and party’s candidate from Chhindwara, Kamal Nath casts his vote at a polling booth here. pic.twitter.com/L7nAyC2NCR

– ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2023

Madhya Pradesh Elections

State Congress president and party’s candidate from Chhindwara, Kamal Nath says, “I have faith in the entire state that they will side with the truth. I trust the public, the voters. I am not Shivraj Singh that I will say that we will win these many or that many seats. Public will decide the number of seats…”

“BJP has Police, money and administration. They will have it for a few more hours now. Yesterday, I received several phone calls, someone sent me a video that shows that liquor and money was being distributed,” he says.

Madhya Pradesh Elections | People show their inked fingers after casting their vote at a polling booth in Indore.

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh Elections | People show their inked fingers after casting their vote at a polling booth in Indore. pic.twitter.com/mpXZU8zUBG

– ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2023

Madhya Pradesh Elections | BJP candidate from Indore-1, Kailash Vijayvargiya offers prayers at his residence in Indore
“I would like to tell the voters to definitely cast vote…BJP will form the government in Madhya Pradesh, a double-engine government will be formed here. We will do development work like we did earlier. We will win more than 150 seats.”

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh Elections | BJP candidate from Indore-1, Kailash Vijayvargiya offers prayers at his residence in Indore.

Polling on all 230 assembly seats of the state is underway. pic.twitter.com/n5sF37FzCE

– ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2023

Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections| People queue up outside polling stations as they await their turn to cast a vote

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh Elections | People queue up outside polling stations as they await their turn to cast a vote.

Visuals from a polling station in Bhopal. pic.twitter.com/S2dOe5m390

– ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2023

Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections

Union Minister and BJP candidate from Narshinghpur, Prahlad Patel says, “…I urge all the people of Madhya Pradesh to touch the goal of 100% voting…I request them to vote together for development…We will come to power for the fifth time with absolute majority…”

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel urges voters to cast their vote. He said, “today polling will happen for the remaining 70 seats…Your one vote will decide the future of youth, farmers, women…Please move out of your homes to vote…Vote for the betterment of Chhattisgarh.”

PM Modi urges people to cast their vote

 Early voters exercise their franchise in Bhopal

Assembly Election 2023 Live Updates: Voting begins for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls

• Voting for Madhya Pradesh’s all 230 assembly seats began at 7 am today. 
• The voters can cast their ballots until 6 pm, except in the Baihar, Lanji, and Parswara assembly seats of Balaghat district and some booths in Mandla and Dindori districts, where voting will be held until 3 pm.
• The webcasting facility has been made available at about 42,000 polling stations. Nearly 700 companies of the central forces and two lakh police personnel of the state have been deployed for security during the poll.
• The election will decide the electoral fate of over 2,500 candidates.
• Nearly 5.59 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. It 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.

• Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, two of the three heartland states drawing public attention ahead of next year’s general election, vote today. 
• While for Madhya Pradesh, it will be a single-phase election, Chhattisgarh is voting for a second time.
• Chhattisgarh is the one state from which the Congress has the highest hope in this round of elections. 
• Not only is the state BJP in a disarray, there is massive support for Bhupesh Baghel, the Chief Minister who set the state on the path of progress, the party claims. 
• The Congress is aiming to win 75 of the state’s 90 seats.  
• But of the two states, Madhya Pradesh with 230 seats is generating bigger interest given the twist in the backstory of this election. 
• The collapse of the Congress government led by Kamal Nath in 2020 following Jyotiraditya Scindia and his 22 loyalists’ walkover, placed the BJP back in power again.  
• Now each party is out to prove they have been the people’s choice.