Madhya Pradesh elections 2023 voting Highlights: Voters queue up at a polling booth in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, on Friday. (PTI)Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2023 Voting Highlights (November 17): Madhya Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 71.26% till 5 pm today, while Chhattisgarh saw 68.15% voters cast their votes in the second phase. Madhya Pradesh went to the polls to elect members for its 230-seat Assembly while the second and the final phase of elections was held in Chhattisgarh for its 70-seat Assembly.
An ITBP jawan was killed in an IED blast in Gariyaband district while providing security cover to a polling party which was on its way back from a remote village in the district. Gariyaband shares its border with Odisha and is close to Naxal-affected Bastar region. The Dimani Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district saw stone-pelting between two groups on Friday morning, leaving one person injured, the police was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
What’s the situation in Chhattisgarh?
Today’s polling will decide the fate of political heavyweights like Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, his deputy TS Singh Deo, eight state ministers and four members of Parliament. The first phase of elections for 20 seats was held on November 7, which saw a voter turnout of 78 per cent. While the main fight is between rivals BJP and the Congress, a three-way contest is on the cards in several seats of the Bilaspur division where former CM Ajit Jogi’s party and the BSP have pockets of influence.
How’s Madhya Pradesh looking like?
The battle for Madhya Pradesh has been about welfare schemes and cash transfers, a race to offer instant gratification to voters instead of presenting any long-term vision of economic inclusivity and development. MP has the lowest per capita income among the states where elections are being held and lags the national per capita income by more than Rs 33,000 per year. In the last elections, in 2018, the Congress rode to power, bagging 114 of the 230 seats, while the BJP, after three terms in power under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had ended up with 109. But the tables soon turned, with the Congress’s leaders in Gwalior-Chambal, led by Scindia, walking over to the BJP camp and bringing the party back to power.
Polling officials at a distribution centre of EVMs in Bhopal. (Photo: PTI)
For the first time in the country's electoral history, all polling booths in an assembly constituency were managed by all-women teams, the Election Commission (EC) said on Friday. The panel was referring to the 201 booths in Raipur (North), where polling was held in the second phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly elections.
This has happened for the first time in any assembly seat of the country, the commission said and added that 1,046 women were deployed in the 201 polling booths.
"These all-women managed polling booths provided a sense of comfort and security to all voters, especially women and voters of the third gender for more inclusive elections," the EC said in a statement. Read more
In Chhattisgarh, highest voting percentage (82.6) was recorded in Kurud seat in Dhamtari. Lowest percentage (?52.11) of voters turned up in Raipur city south seat.
Madhya Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 71.26% till 5 pm today, while Chhattisgarh saw 68.15% voters cast their votes in the second phase.
The Election Commission in its brief post-voting, said 100% enrolment was achieved among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) residing in Madhya Pradesh. "With a concerted effort to facilitate voting amongst the tribal communities, 100% enrolment was achieved among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) residing in Madhya Pradesh," chief election commissioner Reena Kangale.
She added added that all registered 42 electors (26 female and 16 male electors) came together at Sonewani Polling Station in Balaghat AC in Madhya Pradesh to cast their vote, thereby registering 100% voter turnout.
Percentage of voters under the age of 30 was 29.3%. Percentage of voters above the age of 60 years was 12.4%.
This is the second jawan who has died in IED blast while providing security cover to polling party officials and workers. The first one succumed on November 7 after getting injured on November 6 a day before the first phase of polling day in Kanker. A third jawan had suffered serious leg injuries while providing security cover to polling party in Sukma.
An ITBP jawan was killed in an IED blast in Gariyaband district while providing security cover to a polling party which was on its way back from a remote village in the district. Gariyaband shares its border with Odisha and is close to Naxal-affected Bastar region.
Madhya Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 71.11% till 5 pm today, while Chhattisgarh saw 67.34% voters caste their votes in the second phase.
Chhattisgarh's Patan seat recorded the highest voting percentage (66.87%) till 3 pm. At Patan, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is contesting against his nephew MP Vijay Baghel and JCC-J's Amit Jogi, son of first CM Ajit Jogi.Raipur rural recorded the lowest turnout at 38.2%
Here is the constituency-wise breakup of turnout in Chhattisgarh
Till 1 pm, a voter turnout of 45.4% was recorded in Madhya Pradesh, while in Chhattisgarh it was 37.87%.
Incumbent Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel cast his vote, along with his family, in the second phase of the state Assembly elections on Friday.
He said, "My vote is for people of Chhattisgarh."
Deputy CM T S Singh Deo also cast his vote today. He is a scion of erstwhile Royal family of Surguja region in north Chhattisgarh.
Incumbent Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel arrived to cast his vote in a polling booth in Chhattisgarh on Friday.
A voter turnout of 37.87% was recorded in the second phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections was recorded till 1 pm.
Highest is 46.2 % in Sarangarh in new district of Sarangarg-Bhilaigarh.
Lowest is Beltara at 23.21% in Bilaspur.
Voters queue up to vote at a polling booth run by women poll officials, including women police personnel, in St. Vincent Palloti College, Raipur.
Ahead of casting his vote, incumbent Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said Congress was confident of winning more than 75 seats in the election.
He added that there was no competition and the fight was one-sided.
Baghel is contesting from the Patan constituency in Chhattisgarh. 70 seats are up for grabs in the second phase of voting today in the state.
The voter turnout in 70 constituencies of Chhattisgarh was recorded at 19.65% till 11 am, news agency PTI reported.
Nawagarh seat in Bemetara district has highest percentage of voting at 28.3% while lowest voting is at Chandrapur at just 7%. Chandrapur is in the newly formed Sakti district.
Voting is currently underway in the second phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.
The voter turnout in Madhya Pradesh till 11 am was recorded at 28.18%, according to a poll official. (PTI)
A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan helped an elderly woman in casting her vote at a polling booth in Chhattisgarh today.
First-time voters in Bhopal said that they have come to vote for jobs, as unemployment remains the biggest issue for them.
For the first time in Chhattisgarh, the Raipur Northern Assembly constituency election will witness an all-women administration. This also marks the first time in the country's democratic history that women will shoulder the entire responsibility of an election. As part of ‘Sangwari booths’ initiative women officers take sole responsibility for the Raipur North Assembly constituency election. They will oversee tasks ranging from mock polls to the submission of election materials.
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A voter turnout of 5.71% was recorded till 9 am in the second phase of voting in the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections on Friday, a poll official said.
Bindranawagarh seat in Gariyaband district has highest polling percentage at 11.3% and lowest is Mungeli at 1.87% in Mungeli district.
Polling in 70 constituencies began at 8 am and will conclude at 5 pm, except in nine polling booths in the Naxal-affected Bindranawagarh seat in Gariaband district, where voting began at 7 for security reasons, a poll official said.
The booths in Bindranawagarh where voting will be held from 7 am to 3 pm are Kamarbhaudi, Amamora, Odh, Bade Gobra, Ganwargaon, Gariba, Nagesh, Sahbinkachhar and Kodomali.
(With PTI inputs)
Incumbent Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan extended wishes to voters in the state on the "great festival of democracy", aka voting day.
Taking to X, he wrote: "
'Voting' is the right and duty of every citizen. I request all my brothers, sisters and nephews and nieces of Madhya Pradesh to exercise their franchise and participate in the progress and development of the state." Chouhan is fondly known as "Mamaji" or "uncle" in the state.
He added, in Hindi: "Pehle matdaan, phir jalpaan", which roughly translates to "first voting, then refreshments".
A voter turnout of 11.95% was recorded till 9 am in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, according to data released by the Election Commission of India.
Rajgarh has the highest polling with 16.49 percent, while Indore has the lowest polling at 6.21 percent.
12.01% of men have exercised their franchise, while 11.89% of women have voted till 9 am.
The Dimani Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district saw stone-pelting between two groups on Friday morning, leaving one person injured, police was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Voting for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh and the second and final phase of Chhattisgarh, comprising 70 seats, is currently underway, with all eyes on the Congress and the BJP, who have been battling it out for the last few months to get to power.
Vidyavati Dubey, 95, cast her vote in Bhopal this morning.
"I have been voting in almost every election. This is my right," she said.
Tribals from Kamar community, which is one of the seven Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG), in Chhattisgarh, cast their vote in Dhamtari today.
The government gave them habitat rights this year.
Sitting Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan cast his vote in Bhopal today.
Chouhan is contesting from the Budhni constituency in the state.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan cast his vote in Bhopal this morning.
Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Reena Kangale cast her vote in Raipur today.
Reena Kangale at a polling booth in Raipur. (Photo courtesy Chhattisgarh government)
The Chhattisgarh poll discourse was dominated by two conversations: the Bhupesh Baghel government’s pro-farmer welfare pitch and the BJP’s corruption charges against the Congress.
Every high-profile Congress leader that visited the state — from party president Mallikarjun Kharge to senior leader Rahul Gandhi — framed their policies as pro-poor.
The BJP kept throwing in allegations involving the Mahadev betting scam into the conversation and also spoke of religious conversion and ‘appeasement politics’.
Both were neck-and-neck as far as the promises in their manifestos are concerned.
We take a look at the numbers and dissect what Congress promises in Chhattisgarh may add up to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged voters in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to exercise their franchise on Friday, via a series of posts on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
Addressing voters in Chhattisgarh, Modi wrote: "Today is the second and last round of voting in Chhattisgarh assembly elections. I request all the voters to exercise their franchise. Your every vote is valuable for democracy."
For voters in Madhya Pradesh, Modi said, "Today voting will be held for all the assembly seats of Madhya Pradesh. I am confident that voters from every region of the state will vote enthusiastically and enhance the beauty of this great festival of democracy. My special greetings to all the youth of the state who voted for the first time in this election."
Voting for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh and the second and final phase of Chhattisgarh, comprising 70 seats, is currently underway.
Incumbent Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan offered prayers at the banks of river Narmada in Budhni before casting his vote.
He was accompanied by his wife Sadhna Singh.
Madhya Pradesh is proving to be a tough fight for the BJP, with fatigue factor associated with sitting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been in power for close to two decades. To combat this, the BJP has brought in Union ministers into the fray, while Chouhan has fallen back his core constituency of women, as detailed by Liz Mathew, Vikas Pathak and Vandita Mishra in their reports.
The Congress, which bagged 114 of the 230 seats last time but lost power due to the rebellion of now Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in 2020, seems to be resurgent under the leadership of former CM Kamal Nath and his long-time friend and colleague Digvijaya Singh.
Here is what Kamal Nath said today:
As voting in the second phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections began this morning, incumbent Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel urged people to step out of their houses and vote "for the betterment of Chhattisgarh".
He invoked Hindu deity Rama and his homecoming during the Diwali festival while urging people to participate in the electoral process.
Voting for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh and the second and final phase of Chhattisgarh, comprising 70 seats, has begun, with all eyes on the Congress and the BJP, who have been battling it out for the last few months to get to power.
The battle for Madhya Pradesh has been about welfare schemes and cash transfers, a race to offer instant gratification to voters instead of presenting any long-term vision of economic inclusivity and development. MP has the lowest per capita income among the states where elections are being held and lags the national per capita income by more than Rs 33,000 per year. In the last elections, in 2018, the Congress rode to power, bagging 114 of the 230 seats, while the BJP, after three terms in power under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had ended up with 109. But the tables soon turned, with the Congress’s leaders in Gwalior-Chambal, led by Scindia, walking over to the BJP camp and bringing the party back to power.
Today’s polling will decide the fate of political heavyweights like Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, his deputy T S Singh Deo, eight state ministers and four members of Parliament. The first phase of elections for 20 seats was held on November 7, which saw a voter turnout of 78 per cent. While the main fight is between rivals BJP and the Congress, a three-way contest is on the cards in several seats of the Bilaspur division where former CM Ajit Jogi’s party and the BSP have pockets of influence.
Voting for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh and the second and final phase of Chhattisgarh, comprising 70 seats, will be held today, with all eyes on the Congress and the BJP, who have been battling it out for the last few months to get to power.
Currently, there is a Congress government, led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in Chhattisgarh. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP, led by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, holds power. The Chouhan-government came to power in 2020, after the previous Congress government, led by veteran leader Kamal Nath, fell through halfway into the term.