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One-sixth of India’s voters across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram will elect their legislatures in the assembly elections to be held in their states from November 7 to November 30, the Election Commission of India announced on Monday.
The results for all five states will be declared on December 3, and two days later the poll process will be wrapped up, Chief Election Commissioner of India Rajeev Kumar told media.
While the polls in Naxal-affected Chhattisgarh will happen in two phases due to security reasons, on November 7 and November 17, it will be on a single day in the remaining four states, Kumar said. Mizoram will go to the polls on November 7, and Chhattisgarh will witness the first phase of polls on the same day, the Chief Election Commissioner said.
Likewise, elections in Madhya Pradesh will coincide with the second phase of Chhattisgarh elections on November 17, and voters in Rajasthan will exercise their franchise on November 23. Telangana will be the last state to go to the polls on November 30.
Together, the elections in these five states would be held in 679 constituencies, which account for 1/6th of the country’s 4,200 assembly segments, the Chief Election Commissioner said. The voters count is in the same proportion, 1614 crore in five states is 1/6th of the total 95 crore voters spread across states and union territories, Rajeev Kumar said while insisting that this time special emphasis has been made to enrol vulnerable categories, including senior citizens and transgenders, and get them to the polling booths to cast their votes.
Three of the five states, MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, will see a direct contest between the BJP and Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that will happen early next year. While the BJP will defend its rule in MP, which has 230 constituencies, the Congress-governed Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have 200 and 90 assembly seats respectively.
Telangana is expected to see a triangular contest, with the ruling regional party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, pitted against the BJP and the Congress in 119 assembly seats. The Mizo National Front-ruled Mizoram, too, is bound for a triangular fight in 40 assembly seats. The model code of conduct has come into play immediately in these states.
He said 60.2 lakh first-time voters in the age group of 16 years to 19 years have been integrated into the electoral mechanism. Overall, the states will have 8.2 crore male and 7.8 crore female voters. According to him, these five states will have 1.77 lakh polling stations, of which 1.01 lakh will have webcasting facility.
To check the use of money power in polls, a new Election Seizure Management System has been established for the first time, Kumar said. All the enforcement agencies have been directed to work in tandem, with cargo movement by non-chartered flights, railways and posts also to be monitored to avoid inducement material from influencing the polling process, he said.
On elections in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, he said, “The decision to be taken at the right time as per the security situation and other simultaneous elections in the state.”
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