Voting for all 230 seats in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections began at 7 am on Friday, November 17. The second phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, involving 70 out of the total 90 seats, is also underway. The second and final phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections will determine the electoral fate of key political figures such as Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deputy CM TS Singh Deo, eight State Ministers, and four Members of Parliament.
In Madhya Pradesh, 36 seats, including those in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongholds of Bhopal and the central region, including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s seat in Budhni, are being contested on the same day. Voting commenced at 7 am across 64,626 polling booths and will conclude at 6 pm, with 17,032 booths categorised as sensitive. Polling will end at 3 pm in booths categorised as sensitive. Madhya Pradesh has a total of 5.59 crore registered voters, comprising 2.87 crore males, 2.71 crore females, and 1,292 transgender people.
The first phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly voting for 20 seats took place on November 7, witnessing a significant voter turnout of 78%. The second phase, involving 70 seats, is taking place on Friday, with over 1.63 crore eligible voters and 958 candidates on the ballot. Among the 18,833 polling booths, 700 are entirely managed by women. Due to security concerns, the polling time has been reduced in nine booths in the Naxal-affected Bindranawagarh seat in Rajim district.
Vote counting for both states is scheduled for December 3, coinciding with the counting in Telangana, Rajasthan, and Mizoram in this round.