Voters sealed the fates of Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh and Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh on Friday.
While Madhya Pradesh went to polls in a single-phase covering all the 230 assembly seats, 47 of which are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes, Chhattisgarh went to polls for the second and final phase on the remaining 70 of 90 seats.
The State Election Commission (SEC) updated on 6:32 pm that the voting in Madhya Pradesh had concluded. As per the provisional figures released after the voting concluded, the state recorded a voter turnout of 73.72 per cent. The final figures are expected to be higher. The voting concluded earlier in the evening in Chhattisgarh where a voter turnout of 67.34 per cent was recorded.
In Madhya Pradesh, voting was scheduled to conclude at 6 pm. In Chhattisgarh, voting was scheduled to conclude at 5 pm. However, as per the norms, whoever is inside the booth by the time voting is supposed to end is allowed to vote however long it takes.
In Madhya Pradesh, the elections were largely a bipolar contest between the ruling BJP and Congress. While BJP leaders accused the previous Congress governments in the state and at the Centre of allegedly indulging in corruption and looting of public money, the Congress campaign targeted the BJP government over unemployment and price rise and alleged that 50 per cent "commission raj" was prevailing in the state.
The first phase of elections for 20 seats in the Maoist-affected state of Chhattisgarh, which has a 90-member assembly, was held on November 7 and saw a high voter turnout of 78 per cent. The main contenders in this election were the Congress and BJP, with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and some regional outfits also in the fray.
While the BJP targeted the Baghel-led government over corruption, particularly the alleged Mahadev betting app scam, and recruitment scandal and Maoism, the Congress party based its campaign on its welfare schemes for farmers, women, tribals and Dalits, and accused the Centre of handing over resources to select industrialists.
Assembly poll results will be declared on December 3.
