Madhya Pradesh election 2023: The elections to the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held in a single phase on November 17, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Monday. The election results will be announced on December 3, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said while addressing a joint press conference of the ECI at Rang Bhawan Auditorium today. The poll schedule for Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram were also announced by the Commission.
As per the poll schedule announced by the panel today, MP goes to hustings on November 17. With the announcement of the poll schedule, the model code of conduct comes into immediate effect.
Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023 full schedule:
Date of issue of gazette notification: October 21
Last date for filing nomination: October 30
Date of scrutiny: October 31
Last date of withdrawal of nomination: November 2
Date of poll: November 17
Date of counting: December 3
Date before which election shall be completed – December 5
The Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, comprising 230 members, is set to witness a two-cornered contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress, which is eyeing to wrest back power. In the Assembly elections held in 2018, the Congress emerged victorious in the 230-member Assembly, winning 114 seats against 109 for the BJP. The Congress emerged as the single party and went on to form the government with some help from independents and Kamal Nath was appointed as the Chief Minister.
However, 15 months later, Jyotiraditya Scindia led a rebellion of 22 Congress leaders who joined the BJP. Kamal Nath stepped down as CM and the government fell, paving the way for the return of the BJP government with Shivraj Singh Chouhan being appointed as the CM for the fourth time.
In the current Assembly, the BJP has 128 MLAs while the Congress has 98. The BSP and Independents hold 1 and three seats, respectively. The majority mark for a party to win elections is 116. The term of the 15th Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly ends on January 5.