Bhopal, Nov 27: The stage is set for polling in Madhya Pradesh across all 230 constituencies on November 28 (Wednesday) to elect a new government.
The saffron party has been in power in the central Indian state for 15 years and is expected to be hit by a tide of anti-incumbency. n Madhya Pradesh, the contest is mainly between the ruling BJP and Congress.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Mayawati and Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav are also in the fray.
The EC data show that as many as 2,907 candidates are in the fray this time. While the BJP has fielded candidates across all the 230 seats, the Congress has fielded 229 candidates, leaving one seat for Sharad Yadav's party. The BSP has fielded 227 candidates and SP is trying its luck in 51 seats. A total of 1,102 independent candidates are also
in the fray. Opinion polls have suggested the possibility of the election going down to the wire.
According to the Election Commission, a total of 11,421 new polling booths have been set up in the state for the smooth conduct of elections, a 21% rise since the last assembly election. Data shows that polling will be held over 65,000 booths in all. CEO VL Kantha Rao informed that in the previous assembly polls held in 2013, the total polling booths in the state were about 53,000.
Polling will be held between 8 am and 5 pm. A total of over 5 crore voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise. This includes 2,63,01,300 men, 2,41,30,390 women and 1,389 third gender.
In the previous Assembly polls held in 2013, the BJP had won 165 seats, Congress 55 seats and BSP 4 seats. The BJP is ruling the state since 2003 with Shivraj Singh sitting at the helm of party's affair.
Votes will be counted on December 11.