The curtain was drawn at 1800 hrs on Tuesday on the din and bustle of campaigning in 10 parliamentary constituencies of Madhya Pradesh that are scheduled to witness polling from 0700 to 1800 hrs on Thursday amid tight security in the State’s second phase that is to determine the fortunes of 142 candidates.
Heavyweights like Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State unit president Narendra Singh Tomar are in the fray.
After weeks of hectic campaigning, including rallies, public meetings, road shows and street-corner gatherings, the political parties ended their outreach to voters in the evening.
A total of 1,67,12,808 voters, including 77,96,647 women and 426 “others,” will seal the fate of a total of 142 nominees. The 10 constituencies going to the polls on Thursday are Bhopal, Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho and Rajgarh.
The maximum number of contestants is 28 in Bhopal. Corresponding figures are 21 in Gwalior, 17 each in Morena and Khajuraho, 13 in Tikamgarh, 11 in Guna, ten each in Sagar and Damoh, nine in Bhind and six in Rajgarh.
While Scindia is contesting in Guna seat, Tomar is in the poll arena from Gwalior. Among other bigwigs, Congress legislator Govind Singh is trying his luck from Morena and is fighting against BJP’s Anup Mishra.
In Bhind, the Indian Administrative Service’s ex-officer Bhagirath Prasad (BJP) is locked in combat with Imarti Devi (Cong). Sagar is witnessing a contest between former Minister laxmi Narayan Yadav (BJP) and Govind Singh Rajput (Cong).
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10 seats up for grabs in second phase after a hectic campaign
Former Central minister Prahlad Patel (BJP) is in the fray from Damoh.
During campaigning, the saffron party referred to the Centre’s “anti-people” policies and enumerated the work done in BJP-ruled states while the Congress chiefly mentioned the Centre’s achievements over the past decade and BJP regimes’ “erroneous” policies.
BJP’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi addressed a poll meeting in Shivpuri and Congress vice-chief Rahul Gandhi was part of a road show in the citadel town Gwalior. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spoke at dozens of rallies.
This heartland state boasts of 29 lok Sabha constituencies. Nine witnessed voting on Thursday and ten are scheduled to do likewise on April 24.
A total of 18,796 polling stations are set up across the constituencies.
The polling for 9 lok Sabha seats in the state was held in the first phase on April 10. The third and last phase of polling in the state is scheduled for April 24 in which the remaining 10 seats of the state would go to the polls.
An embattled BJP is betting on the popularity of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi clubbed with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to win all the 29 seats from the state while the Congress is struggling to retain the 12 seats it had won in 2009. The BJP had won 16 seats in that year’s general election and the BSP also managed to win a seat in the state then.