Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh CMs both in the fray in Friday’s polling

Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to vote on November 17, 2023, for 70 and 36 seats respectively. Chief Ministers Bhupesh Baghel and Shivraj Singh Chouhan contest in Patan and Budhni.

The second and final phase of the 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 T.S. Singh Deo, eight State Ministers and four Members of Parliament.

In Madhya Pradesh, meanwhile, 36 seats in the BJP strongholds in Bhopal and the adjoining central region, including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s seat in Budhni, will also go to the polls on the same day.

The first phase of voting for 20 seats in the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly was held on November 7 and saw a high voter turnout of 78%. More than 1.63 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the 70 seats going to polls on Friday, where 958 candidates are on the ballot. Of the 18,833 polling booths, 700 will be entirely managed by women. The polling time has been reduced in nine polling booths in the Naxal-affected Bindranawagarh seat in Rajim district for security reasons.

While the Congress has set an ambitious target of winning 75-plus Assembly seats, the Opposition BJP is seeking to make a comeback to power in the State, which it ruled for 15 years non-stop, from 2003 to 2018. While the main fight is between these bitter rivals, a three-way contest is on the cards in several seats of the Bilaspur division where former CM Ajit Jogi's Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and the Bahujan Samaj party — which is contesting in alliance with a regional outfit, the Gondwana Ganatantra Party — have pockets of influence. The Aam Aadmi Party has also been focusing on seats in the division.

Mr. Baghel will contest from his traditional Patan seat, where the BJP has fielded his distant nephew and party MP Vijay Baghel, while Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) State president Amit Jogi’s decision to contest the seats adds a new dimension to the contest.

The BJP's poll campaign was spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who addressed four well-attended rallies for the second phase and targeted the Baghel-led government over corruption, particularly the alleged Mahadev betting app scam, and recruitment scandal and Naxalism. Top BJP leaders on the campaign trail also criticised Mr. Baghel over religious conversion, and accused his government of indulging in appeasement politics.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and CM Baghel led the campaign for the ruling party and mounted a counter-offensive claiming their party is concerned about the interest of the poor, while the BJP-led Centre only works for the welfare of the rich. The Congress based its campaign on a slew of welfare schemes rolled out by the Baghel government for farmers, women, tribals and Dalits. It has tried to woo farmers with the promise of a loan waiver, similar to its 2018 pledge, and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) with a caste survey.