EC announces poll schedule for Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Mizoram

Election Commission announced the poll schedule for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana on Monday.

At a press conference in Delhi, the EC said that assembly elections in Mizoram will be held on 7 November. Counting of votes will take place on December 3.

Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases on November 7 and November 17. Counting of votes will take place on December 3.

The EC said that assembly poll in MP would be held in one phase on November 17 while the polling would be held in Rajasthan on November 23.

The assembly elections of five states are being called the semi-finals of the 2023 general elections. More than 20 opposition parties including Congress are fighting together under the banner of I.N.D.I.A.

Elections would be held on 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, 200 in Rajasthan, 119 in Telangana, 90 in Chhattisgarh and 40 in Mizoram.

The tenure of Mizoram Assembly ends on December 17 this year. Mizo National Front is in power there.

The tenure of the assemblies of Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan is ending on different dates in January next year. Telangana is ruled by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), while Madhya Pradesh is ruled by BJP. There are Congress governments in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

CEC Rajiv Kumar said that 60 lakh youth (18-19 years of age) will vote for the first time in the assembly elections of five states. Young officers will take command of more than 2,900 polling stations in five states.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said, 'If anyone across the country wants to make any additions, deletions and amendments related to the voter list from October 17 to November 30, they are welcome to do so.'

The total number of voters with disabilities (PwD) is 17.34 lakh. If they cannot come to the polling station and vote, they will get the facility to vote from their home also.

Kumar said, 'If the assembly seats of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh are combined, the total seats will be 679. At present there are 8.52 lakh voters in Mizoram, 2.03 crore in Chhattisgarh, 5.6 crore in Madhya Pradesh, 5.2 crore in Rajasthan and 3.17 crore in Telangana. If all these are combined, there are a total of 8.2 crore male and 7.8 crore female voters.