Mizoram Assembly Elections 2023 Highlights: Congress accuses BJP of first criticising allies and then supporting them

The live blog session has concluded. For more news, views and updates, stay tuned with Moneycontrol.com.

Ahead of Assembly elections, Telangana Chief Minister KCR said that the Congress party has a dozen CM candidates. "Wherever you see there is CM. They’ll say I’ll become the CM another will come and say how will you become, I’ll become CM. Everyone there says you vote for me I’ll become CM. There’s no possibility that Congress will win."

The marble business in Kishangarh claims to be facing a power shortage and exorbitant electricity bills. Power outages and excessive electricity bills have become major concerns for the marble industry in Kishangarh, with business owners feeling 'powerless' in the face of the issue. The Marble Association has also written numerous letters to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, but has received no response from his office.

The Election Commission issued a notification on Tuesday prohibiting the conduct, publication, and promotion of exit polls between 7 a.m. on November 7 and 6.30 p.m. on November 30, when five states have assembly elections.

While Chhattisgarh will hold voting in two phases on November 7 and November 17, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana will vote on November 7, November 17, November 25, and November 30.

During his public address at Kollapur, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "Here, the contest is between BRS and Congress. BRS, BJP and AIMIM are working together. Your CM helps the BJP in Lok Sabha. Your CM fully supported GST and Farm Laws. All the CMs of the Opposition have CBI, ED and IT cases against them. But your CM has no such case against him...If you vote for AIMIM and BJP, you will waste your vote. We will defeat BJP here first and then defeat them in 2024 and push them out of the government."

Gourav Vallabh, the party's national spokesperson, is running from Udaipur.

Mizoram Assembly Elections Live Updates: Rajnath to campaign in poll-bound state

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Mizoram to campaign on November 1. He will address public meetings at Mamit in the western part of Mizoram bordering Bangladesh and Tripura, and Siaha in the south.  Speaker of the outgoing assembly Lalrinliana Sailo and ex-excise minister Dr K Beichhua are contesting on BJP tickets from Mamit and Siaha respectively. 

"Today, my sister (Priyanka Gandhi) was supposed to be here, but she has a fever. As I have told you all earlier too, our relationship is not political but like that of a family. Therefore, when my sister couldn't come, I decided to be here," said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing a public gathering in Kollapur in Telangana.

"Today, my sister (Priyanka Gandhi) was supposed to be here, but she has a fever. As I have told you all earlier too, our relationship is not political but like that of a family. Therefore, when my sister couldn't come, I decided to be here," said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing a public gathering in Kollapur in Telangana.

Congress leaders N Janardhan Reddy, son Vishnuvardhan Reddy joined BRS after being denied tickets. BRS supremo KCR welcomed them. "I never imagined that the Congress would come to this state. The Congress will soon have to sell off the Gandhi Bhavan," Vishnuvardhan Reddy had earlier told ANI.

"You have been facing injustice for the past 18 years. But after December 3, you will see justice. It's a matter of a few days, please support Congress and I invite you all to attend Kamal Nath’s oath-taking ceremony on December 7," said Congress MP Nakul Nath at a poll rally in Chhindwara.

"From all the political atmosphere and all the reports that I have seen, we believe that we shall be able to form the government (after the assembly election)," said Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga during a press conference in Aizawl. The MNF faces competition from the main opposition party, Zoram People's Movement (ZPM), the Congress, and their NDA ally, the BJP.

“BJP is scared of their defeat which is why the central agencies are being misused by them across the nation. Everyone has accepted this and it has become a common notion. However, I believe that Congress leaders and workers are not going to be intimidated by this and will successfully form a government with a clear majority (in Rajasthan),” said Congress leader Sachin Pilot.

On the announcement of poll promises, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel said,"We have made 17 announcements, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi ji have also given guarantees. BJP should have given at least one guarantee...PM should take cognizance of the cancellation of flights connecting Bastar under Udaan scheme and the cancellation of several trains in Chhattisgarh."

The Congress will release its fourth list of candidates shortly. Of the remaining 105 seats, CEC has approved 70 names.

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Madhya Pradesh is not Kamal Nath's state. He does not have affection for MP. Calling Madhya Pradesh, a 'chaupat pradesh' is an insult to the state and the people of the state. If he has political enmity with me, he should target me but the state...People will not tolerate the insult of the country or Madhya Pradesh..."

"Samajwadi Party's (bicycle) Yatra was not concerned with people. It was just an event organised by an event management company to grab news headlines. People have faith in the BJP," said UP Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak.

A number of people from BJP are going to join Congress. They are understanding the sentiments of the people of Madhya Pradesh, said Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath.

- On October 30, the Congress' top brass discussed the names of probable candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly polls.
- Party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC in-charge of the state Sukhjinder Randhawa, state unit chief Govind Dotasra, party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and the party's Rajasthan screening committee chief Gaurav Gogoi, among others, attended the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting for Rajasthan.
- The 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will go to polls on November 25. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.

- Incumbent Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has promised to waiver the interest on farmers' loans under the Chief Minister’s Farmer Interest Waiver Scheme, 2023, provision of permanent agricultural pump connections, and increase of Rs 2,000 in direct benefit transfers.
- "Farmers are not only our food-givers but also our life-givers", he had said. "The government will waive interest amounting to over Rs 2,200 crore, benefitting over 11 lakh farmers who have defaulted on loans,” Chouhan had stated at a public rally last month.
- “The Prime Minister is paying Rs 6,000 to farmers. So, when I became chief minister for the fourth term, I have also decided to give Rs 4,000 to farmers, and the total amount has increased to Rs 10,000. But now the situation has changed, and your ‘mama’ will give Rs 6,000, which makes it Rs 12,000 annually,” he had further reasserted early this month at a rally in the poll-bound state.

- Of the total cultivated area of 4.78 million hectares (ha), rice covers 68.8 percent of the agricultural landscape in Chhattisgarh.
- The state's farmers have been able to sell all their produce far above the MSP promised by the Centre.
- The farm harvest price of paddy for the year 2021-22 saw the cost rise 25 percent above MSP, as per the latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture.
- Hence, paddy production has surged by 63 percent in the five years between 2017-18 and 2021-22, according to data showed.
- It should be noted that Bhupesh Baghel became the Chief Minister in 2018.

- "Today, I am announcing from this stage that just as we had waived loans of farmers last time, if we form government again, farmers will have their loans waived again,” Bhupesh Baghel, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress party leader, had declared at a public rally in the state a few days ago.
- An increase in farmer incomes, a key vote bank, has been a big part of all party agendas in the poll-bound state.
- While the Narendra Modi government has been betting big on farmers with a series of steps to woo the large vote bank, including direct cash transfers in accounts of farmers, Chhattisgarh has followed suit, rolling out a slew of agri policies.

- The Congress' promise of an increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy from Rs 2,100 to Rs 2,500 was said to be a game changer for the party in the 2018 assembly elections.
- The BJP has, however, always maintained that the Centre procures paddy from the state, and the Congress is just taking credit for it.
- According to Congress, though, it is the Chhattisgarh state government’s Rajiv Gandhi Nyay Yojana that gives input subsidies to farmers for growing paddy and has benefited rice farmers.

- The Bhupesh Baghel-led government in Chhattisgarh has vowed to hike the paddy purchase price to Rs 3,600 per quintal if the party bounces to power in the state.
- Moreover, every year, the state government pays Rs 9,000 per acre to all farmers as subsidy, including those who do not cultivate paddy.