India is gearing up to conduct Assembly elections in two states – Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. While Chhattisgarh is all set for its second and final phase, Madhya Pradesh enters the electoral area today (November 17). The polling will commence from 8 am in Chhattisgarh and 7 am in Madhya Pradesh.Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections Phase 2In Chhattisgarh, Congress won the last assembly polls, ending the BJPs 15-year rule in the tribal-dominated state. The second and final phase of Chhattisgarh assembly elections for the remaining 70 seats will be held on Friday and decide the electoral 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 in the Naxal-affected state, which has a 90-member assembly, was held on November 7 and saw a high voter turnout of 78 per cent. The ruling Congress voted to office in 2018 after 15 years in opposition, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the main contenders for power in the state, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and some regional outfits are also in the fray.Madhya Pradesh Assembly ElectionsMeanwhile, Madhya Pradesh will commence its polling on Friday, ready to make a crucial choice between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress in a single-phase election.Todays polling will decide the electoral fate of 2,533 candidates in 230 assembly seats, including political bigwigs like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor and rival Kamal Nath, in a poll that will be a largely bipolar battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh Elections 2023 | Preparation, mock poll underway as voting for #MadhyaPradeshElections2023 will begin at 7am today in the Sausar assembly constituency of Chhindwara district. pic.twitter.com/JBmEIJY29r— ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2023All arrangements have been made for a single phase voting covering all the 230 assembly seats -- 47 of them reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes -- in the state which has more than 5.6 crore registered electors, a top poll official said on Thursday.Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm in all the assembly segments except in Baihar, Lanjhi and Paraswada seats in Balaghat district, 55 booths in Mandla districts Bichhiya and Mandla seats and 40 polling stations of Dindori district, all Naxalite affected, where voting time is 7 am to 3 pm, Madhya Pradeshs Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan told reporters.
