Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh election result 2018 will be declared today. Exit polls show a neck-and-neck fight between the BJP and Congress. Track LIVE updates on Assembly election vote counting.
Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election Result 2018 LIVE: Counting of
votes has begun in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where exit polls
predict the Congress
and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are locked in a tight contest.
In both the states, early trends reveal stiff competition between the
two national parties.
In
Chhattisgarh, BJP leader Raman Singh is seeking a fourth consecutive
term as chief minister and the Congress aims to return to power after
15 years.
In
Madhya Pradesh, the BJP
has ruled the state since 2003, seeking to retain the state under
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has held the post since
2005. Chhattisgarh recorded a 76.60 per cent voter turnout when
elections were held on November 12 and 20 to elect a new 90-member
Assembly.
A
coalition among Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), former chief
minister Ajit Jogi's Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and Communist
Party of India (CPI) has added another dimension to the electoral
politics of the state.
Tight
security arrangements have been made at the counting centres in all
27 districts of the Maoist-affected state. Raman Singh is contesting
from the Rajnandgaon seat against Congress' Karuna Shukla, the niece
of former BJP prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Madhya
Pradesh registered a voter turnout of around 75% in the November 28
Assembly polls. The state has a 230-seat Assembly, where the majority
mark is 116. The BJP contested on all 230 seats, the Congress fought
on 229, leaving one to its ally, the Loktantrik Janata Dal.
The
BSP and the Samajwadi Party (SP), which has allied with the Gondwana
Gantantra Party, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are the other players
to watch out for as election results come. The BSP has fielded 227
candidates, while SP and AAP have fielded 51 and 208 candidates.
