NEW DELHI: Five Indian states will hold assembly elections next month in a key political battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the recently-formed opposition alliance known as INDIA ahead of national elections in 2024.
About 160 million people are eligible to vote in these regional elections from November 7 to 30, according to an announcement by the Election Commission on Monday.
Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP is facing a tough contest to stay in power, will go to the polls on November 17, with 56 million voters eligible to elect 230 assembly members.
Intense campaigning is under way in the state, where the BJP has deployed its top leaders to counter the spirited Indian National Congress, the INDIA alliance’s main party.
Congress leaders have highlighted corruption, poor law and order situation and unemployment among main issues in the Hindi-speaking region.
Rajasthan, another key Hindi heartland state ruled by the Congress, will hold elections on November 23 for the 200-seat legislature.
Congress and BJP leaders, including Modi, have been busy pitching their agendas to the state’s 52 million voters in recent days.
Telangana, controlled by the regional party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), will have voting on November 30 for the 119-seat assembly.
About 31.7 million people are eligible to vote in the Telugu-speaking southern state.
Polling will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17 to elect 90 assembly members in the Congress-run Chhattisgarh state, which has 20 million voters.
The small northeastern state of Mizoram, which has just 856,868 voters, will go to the polls on November 7 to elect a new 40-member legislature.
Votes will be counted for all states on December 3 and the outcome will be available the same day.
India’s national elections are due in the first half of next year.-Bernama
