Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram go to polls today

Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Mizoram are going to polls on Monday. While most opinion polls have given the balance of advantage to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in MP, a surprise performance by the Congress on the back of anti-incumbency is also not ruled out.

In Mizoram, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla of the Congress and his 11 ministers are contesting. All the seats in Mizoram are reserved for Scheduled Tribe nominees, except Lunglei South, which is for general candidates. Both the ruling Congress and Opposition Mizoram Democratic Alliance comprising Mizo National Front (MNF), Mizoram People's Conference and Maraland Democratic Alliance will fight in all the 40 seats.

In MP, the BJP government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan hopes to win for a third term in the 230-member Assembly, which will put him on a par with the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi who is currently the only three-term chief minister the party has.

Anti-incumbency in the state against corruption by sitting MLAs and ministers are jostling with the undeniable personal popularity of the chief minister. On the other hand, the opposition Congress has reconciled itself to the fact that groupism will always be a fact of life in the party and despite superficial bonhomie, is fighting back strongly against the government.

BJP had come to power in the state in 2003, winning 173 seats, while the Congress could manage only 38. The saffron party secured a second straight term in 2008 pocketing 143 seats, while Congress got 71, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got seven, Bharatiya Jan Shakti Party five, Samajwadi Party (SP) one and three independent candidates.

According to the last ABP survey, the ruling-BJP would get 37 per cent votes in MP, while the opposition, Congress around 34 per cent. Experts believe that the margin of victory may be narrow and the fight may even yield surprises.

Out of the 1,045 candidates, whose affidavits about their criminal record were analysed by Madhya Pradesh Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms, 243 have criminal cases pending against them. The crimes for which charges have been brought against candidates in the state include murder, kidnap and crimes against women, according to ADR.

Among the Congress candidates in the state, 97 have criminal cases against them; 66 BJP candidates are in that category, as are 58 BSP candidates.

Voting will be held in 53,896 polling booths in 51 districts with the electorate of 464,57,724. A total of 2,583 candidates are in fray, including Chouhan, who is contesting from Budhni and Vidisha seats.

The other prominent candidates from BJP are state Urban Development Minister and former Chief Minister Babulal Gaur (Govindpura in Bhopal), Forest Minister Sartaj Singh (Seoni-Malwa in Hoshangabad district) and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra (Datia proper in Datia district).State Home Minister Uma Shankar Gupta is fighting from Bhopal South-West while Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Gopal Bhargava from Rehli and BJP MP Yashodhara Raje Scindia from Shivpuri.

The Congress's candidates are led by Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Ajay Singh, who is contesting again from the Churhat constituency in the Sidhi district. Another prominent Congress candidate this time is Jaiwardhan Singh, the son of party general-secretary and former chief minister Digvijay Singh. Jaiwardhan is in the race from Raghogarh constituency in Guna district.The Congress has been out of power in the state since it lost elections in December 2003.

BJP had come to power in the state in 2003 winning 173 seats, while Congress could manage only 38.

There are eight Naxal-affected districts in MP - Balaghat, Shahdol, Anuppur, Umaria, Mandla, Dindori, Sidhi and Singrauli - for which special arrangements have been made.