Madhya Pradesh assembly elections 2023 Highlights: Madhya Pradesh records 71% voter turnout till 5pm

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On reported cases of violence in the stae, BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur said, these are baseless allegations by Congress due to their fear of losing. It is Congress's culture to plan attacks and violence and then encash that. But people are happy with BJP and can see chages that took place after Modi government came in power, she added. The voting is taking place nicely. People are aware and they realise their duty towards the country.I appeal to the people to practice their right to vote, says Thakur

Madhya Pradesh saw 71.11% voters turnout till 5 pm

Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Ranjan says, "The incident in Morena took place late at night yesterday in which one person died and an FIR will be registered after post-mortem. Similarly, the violence incident in Indore was also a pre-poll incident and has no connection with the assembly polls happening today.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer, Anupam Rajan said, The percentage of voting in Madhya Pradesh stands at 60.52% with maximum voting from Shajapur (70.27%) followed by Malwa (69.96%) and Neemuch (69.69%) . Districts like Bhopal (45.34%), Alirajpur (50.66%) and Gwalior (51%) have recorded lowest voting so far, he said.

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar expressed confidence that BJP will form government in Madhya Pradesh. He said, “There is a wave of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. The atmosphere is in favour of the BJP. People are liking the schemes and development works of the Central government and state government.”

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh is demanding strict action against Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra for his comment about Pakistan celebrating victory if any other party than BJP wins in the state. Mishra said, “In Madhya Pradesh, pressing the Lotus button is seen as a signal for the army to reinforce border security. The prospect of PM Modi winning has left Pakistan disappointed. The Kamal button is seen as a deterrent to terrorists, instilling fear in them.”

Madhya Pradesh saw 60.52 percent voter turnout till 3 pm

Madhya Pradesh minister and BJP leader Narottam Mishra in Datia says, "When you press the button (on EVM) with the 'lotus' symbol on it, then celebrations are held in India. If any other political party wins, celebrations will be held in Pakistan. Keeping national interest in mind, the button with the 'lotus' symbol on it should be pressed."

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh alleged on November 17 that a Congress worker was mowed down by a BJP candidate but the police have not taken any action yet. “The police have neither confiscated the vehicle nor arrested the candidate. Open hooliganism is taking place…,” he said.

An aide of a Congress candidate was killed after two groups fought in the Rajnagar constituency of Madhya Pradesh and a few clashes were reported in other parts of the state.

Five persons were injured in a skirmish between two groups in the Mhow area of Indore district, while two men were wounded in a clash in Morena district's Dimani constituency, where Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar is contesting.

The BJP has nominated its prominent OBC leader Prahlad Singh Patel, while the Congress has put forth Lakhan Singh Patel as its contender. The BJP saw success in the last two Assembly elections of 2013 and 2018, with Jalam Singh Patel emerging victorious.

When Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan assumed office in November 2005 he was 46 years old. His rival Kamal Nath, though a veteran politician, only received the opportunity to oust Chouhan at the ripe age of 77 in 2018. He is the oldest politician in Madhya Pradesh to become the alternative to an incumbent chief minister.

PM Modi and CM Chouhan are among the most successful politicians from the BJP. While Modi has been the party's longest serving PM, Chouhan has been the longest serving chief minister from BJP.

Violence was reported from Mehgaon seat in Bhind district where Rakesh Shukla, a BJP candidate, was hurt. The incident is being probed

Telangana assembly has the highest share of MLAs with criminal cases among the five states seeing polls. Madhya Pradesh has the second-highest share of MLAs with criminal cases

Baghelkhand, Gwalior-Chambal, Malwa, Bhopal, Mahakoshal and Nimar. Baghelkhand comprises Bundelkhand and Vindhya Pradesh. Of these Baghelkhand, Bhopal and Malwa are BJP strongholds, while Congress made gains in the other three in the last election.

MP also deals with high inflation rates, which have remained consistently above the national average since FY19. Consumer prices rose 6.2 percent in the state in FY22, while the national average was 5.5 percent.

Although per capita income in Madhya Pradesh has risen, it remains less than the national average. The state’s per capita income was estimated to be Rs 63,345 in FY22, which was lower than the national average of Rs 91,481.

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar is contesting from this seat in Morena district. The Congress has managed to pin him down in his constituency amid purported videos of Tomar’s son Dileep Tomar discussing money-transfers worth crores.

First-time voters in Bhopal see unemployment as the biggest issue in these elections. In its election manifesto, the Congress promised a law to better manage recruitments, ‘MP Sarkari Bharti Kanoon’, and provide a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 to Rs, 3,000 to unemployed youth, if voted to power.

Also being keenly watched today will be the fate of Digvijaya Singh's "Mission 66" to rebuilding the Congress organisation in 66 seats that the Congress hasn't won in the last three elections. Kamal Nath had entrusted Digvijaya with this task and the veteran Congress leader has toured these seats and watched them closely during the campaign. Without making a breakthrough here, Congress is effectively in the reckoning for only 160 odd seats to get to the halfway point of 116.

The Congress has officially been the top spender on Facebook advertisements at more than Rs 26 lakh in two poll-bound states, as per a News18 report. The party’s Telangana unit has spent a whopping Rs 13.24 lakh, while its Madhya Pradesh unit has spent Rs 12.84 lakh. Together, it surpasses the BJP’s ad spending.

At 9 am, the provisional voting percentage in Madhya Pradesh was 10.4 per cent. In Chhattisgarh it was 5.4 per cent. In the 2018 election, the final turnout in MP 75.5.

-- Farm loan waiver of up to ₹2 lakh
-- Paddy procurement at ₹2500 per quintal, wheat at ₹2600 per quintal
-- 100 units of free electricity and subsequent 200 units at half rate
-Assistance of ₹1,500 per month to women.
-LPG cylinders at ₹500,
-₹500 aid for children of government schools from classes 1 to 8, ₹1000 to students of classes 9 and 10 and ₹1500 per month to the students of classes 11 and 12.
-Implementation of the Old Pension Scheme
-Under the Yuva Swabhiman Scheme, financial assistance ranging from ₹1500 to ₹3000 a month will be provided to needy educated unemployed youth for two years.
-Loans for women entrepreneurs, housing for rural homeless women, and free transportation on metropolitan bus services.
-Loans up to ₹25 lakh will be provided to women for start-ups at 3 per cent interest rate.

This is the first general election that the Congress is fighing in five decades without a Scindia royal holding fort for the party in the Gwalior Chambal region. In 2018, Congress had done exceedingly well in Gwalior-Chambal, which helped it edge out BJP. But with Jyotiraditya Scindia in the BJP camp and having taken away much of the Congress organisation with him in 2020, Congress is largely relying on anti-incumbency sentiment among voters to regain its standing here

-- Congress' Vikram Mastal, 40, is up against CM Shivraj Chouhan from Budhni assembly constituency
-- Born in Sehore district's Salkanpur temple town situated close to Budhni, Mastal is popular for playing the role of Lord Hanuman in the 2008 TV serial 'Ramayan 2'.

-- Born to a Brahmin family in UP's Kanpur on November 18, 1946, Kamal Nath Chhindwara Lok Sabha MP.
-- He has seen nine Lok Sabha terms, six union cabinet berths and a two-year stint as the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister.
-- A Gandhi loyalist, Indira Gandhi called him her "third son"
-- He among the 10 richest (and oldest) candidates in this election, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms, with total assets worth more than ₹ 134 crore.

Among the seven MPs include Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Pralhad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste. Jyotiraditya Scindia is not contesting

Just like Karnataka, the party has made poll promises in tranches which includes hiking paddy procurement price to ₹ 2,500 per quintal, filling up 2 lakh vacant posts, creating 1 lakh new posts in villages and the promise of an industrial hub.

The party fared badly in the Gwalior-Chambal and Mahakoshal regions, which accounts for 72 of the state's 230 assembly seats.

In the likelihood of a close contest in MP, SP could be a crucial factor. SP has put up candidates in 71 assembly constituencies in MP. There is a decline in SP’s support base, but despite this SP managed to win the Bijawar Assembly seat in MP and played a crucial role in the electoral contest in another 11 constituencies where its vote share was more than the winning margin.

Madhya Pradesh has largely managed to keep a lid on its fiscal deficit. However, the gap is gradually widening. It reached 3.6 percent of the GSDP in FY23 compared with 3.3 percent a year before. The state’s fiscal deficit is estimated in the budget at 4 percent of GSDP in FY24, breaching the 3.5 percent limit set in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.

The state’s gross domestic product growth slowed in the previous financial year. Although Madhya Pradesh’s economy grew in double digits in FY22 on the back of a favourable base effect after the pandemic, it failed to retain that momentum in FY23.

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Congress, with 114 seats, emerged as single largest party and formed government with the help of BSP, SP and independent MLAs under Kamal Nath. However, the Nath regime collapsed in March 2020 after a rebellion by now Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Congress MLAs loyal to him, putting Shivraj Chouhan at the helm.

In Chhindwara, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath is contesting from his home turf against the BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu. Nath won the by-elections from Chhindwara in 2019 by defeating the BJP’s Sahu by a margin of 25,837 votes. Kamal Nath’s tenure as chief minister ended in March 2020 after a rebellion by his party colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia, which led to Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government coming back to power in the state.

Over 700 companies of central forces and two lakh police personnel of the state have been deployed for security during the poll.

Jyotiraditya Scindia's pick Hirendra Singh has been fielded against Jaivardhan Singh who in 2018 defeated the Kamal Waskale by a margin of 29.80% votes.

-- Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel is contesting from Narsingpur. Congress has fielded Lakhan Singh Patel against him
-- Home Minister Narottam Mishra is contesting from the Datia seat. Mishra is up against Congress’ Avdhesh Nayak, a former RSS functionary.
-- In Lahar assembly constituency, the BJP has fielded Ambrish Sharma to contest against Congress’ Govind Singh. Singh has the record of recording seven consecutive wins from Lahar.

Prime Minister Modi held 15 rallies in Madhya Pradesh. His rallies were held in Ratlam, Seoni, Khandwa, Sidhi, Damoh, Muraina, Guna, Satna, Chhatarpur, Neemuch, Barwani, Indore, Betul, Shajapur and Jhabua.

Voting for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh has started with all eyes on the Congress and the BJP as they try to win this key state ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections

CM Chouhan has vowed to provide a job to each household if his party returns to power. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had claimed in her Jabalpur speech in June that the BJP government gave only 21 government jobs in MP in the last three years, expressing surprise over the low figure

BJP is trying to woo tribals who account for over 21 per cent of the state’s population. Of the 47 Assembly seats reserved for STs, the saffron party had won only 16 seats while the Congress swept 30 seats in 2018.

BJP is highlighting its development of religious tourist circuits, including Ujjain’s Mahakal Lok corridor and the Adi Shankaracharya statue in Omkareshwar. Congress’ Kamal Nath is pursuing “soft” Hindutva by presenting himself as a Hanuman devotee. He recently erected a massive statue of the deity in his constituency Chhindwara

BJP CM is banking on welfare schemes, including the popular Ladli Behna Yojana – a monthly financial assistance for underprivileged women, for a comeback. The Congress’ promise of a farm loan waiver if it comes to power has also resonated with farmers

Madhya Pradesh’s longest-serving CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is facing anti-incumbency, which is probably one of the reasons his party has stopped short of projecting him as the CM face.

BJP has given tickets to several bigwigs in MP polls, including three Union ministers. Union Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar will fight from Dimani seat of Morena, Minister of State (MoS) Prahlad Singh Patel from Narsingpur, and MoS Faggan Singh Kulaste from Niwas – a seat reserved for STs.

Congress leader and the party's CM face Kamal Nath is contesting from the Chhindwara seat against BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu.

The BJP CM is contesting from Budhni seat, a seat he has held since 2006. He will face Congress’ nominee Ramayan actor Vikram Mastal. In 2018 polls, Chouhan trounced former state Congress president Arun Yadav by more than 58,000 votes.

Around 5.6 crore voters will decide the future of 2,534 candidates, of which 472 have declared criminal cases against them. About 291 of them are facing serious charges, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms.