Voting is underway for assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, where 2,533 candidates, including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his opponent Kamal Nath are in the fray for 230 assembly seats, in a bipolar contest between the ruling BJP and the Congress.
Besides Chief Minister Chouhan, who is contesting from Budhni, the BJP has fielded top guns in the assembly elections including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywrgiya and Lok Sabha MPs Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak.
The Congress, which is aiming to make a comeback, has fielded bigwigs including state Congress president Kamal Nath, Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s son and former state minister Jaivardhan Singh and former CM Arjun Singh’s son Ajay Singh.
In 2018, Congress, with 114 seats, emerged as the single largest party and formed the government with the help of BSP, SP and independent MLAs under the leadership of Kamal Nath. However, the state witnessed a change in government in March 2020 when the Congress-led government collapsed and the BJP returned to power.
The assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh will likely witness a tight contest between the Congress and the BJP. Here is all you need to know about what matters to voters:
- PM Narendra Modi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will play a crucial role in the campaign and will be the BJP’s key asset. PM Modi made nine visits to the state and addressed 14 public meetings after the elections were announced. The BJP is heavily banking on his charisma to retain power.
- Corruption: The BJP in the state is facing allegations of corruption in Vyapam recruitment and admission scam during Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s rule. Congress has claimed that corruption was rampant in Karnataka when the BJP was in office, and in Madhya Pradesh, it is even worse.
- Anti-incumbency: The BJP government, which has been ruling the state for almost four terms, is facing the challenge of overcoming anti-incumbency after a long stint in power since 2003. There are several other issues including corruption, crimes against women and Dalits, unemployment and fate of Scindia supporters which may work against the ruling Shivraj Singh government.
- Fate of Scindia supporters: Three key loyalists of Jyotiraditya Scindia – minister OPS Bhadoria, Munna Lal Goyal and Raksha Saroniya – have been denied tickets by the BJP despite winning the November 2020 bypolls. Of the 22 Congress who had joined BJP with Scindia, four others have not been given tickets – Raghuraj Singh Kansana (Morena), Giriraj Dandotiya (Dimni), Ranveer Jatav (Gohad) and Jaswant Jatav (Karera). The Congress has been trying to take advantage of this factionalism- mostly between loyalists of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and BJP veterans- and weaning away its leaders.
- Crime: Rising crime graph, especially incidents against women and members of vulnerable sections, including Dalits and tribals, is a major issue among voters. The incident where a person urinated on a tribal man in Sidhi district shocked the state. In a damage control exercise, Chief Minister Chouhan washed the feet of the tribal man and apologized to him.
- Farmers: Agriculture-related issues have always dominated the political discourse in the state and all parties have tried to woo cultivators. Both the Congress and the BJP have traded charges of cheating farmers on the issue of farm loan waiver when in power. Non-availability of quality seeds and shortage of fertilizers have been major concerns for farmers.
- Party Infighting: The Congress party has seen infighting between Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh. The BJP on the other hand has seen rivalry for the CM’s chair between candidates- Narendra Singh Tomar, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
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