Five-State Electoral Battle Starts With 1st Phase Today

A crucial round of assembly elections across five states will commence on Tuesday with voting in the northeastern state of Mizoram and in 20 constituencies in Chhattisgarh, marking the beginning of an exercise billed as a virtual semi-final before the general elections next summer.

- Utpal Parashar and Ritesh Mishra

Elections will be held on November 17 in Madhya Pradesh and the other 70 seats in Chhattisgarh. Rajasthan will go to the polls on November 25, and Telangana on November 30. Results for all five states will be declared on December 3. Apart from deciding who will govern these five states, which together send 83 representatives to the Lok Sabha, the results will also have a bearing on how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the national political hegemon approaches the national elections in 2024, and on seat-sharing negotiations between members of the opposition INDIA bloc.

Twelve of the 20 seats going to the polls in Chhattisgarh are in the Maoist-infested Bastar region, with polling officials, state police personnel and additional paramilitary staff being transported to sensitive booths since last Saturday. Election Commission of India (ECI) personnel said that given the risk attached, polling in 10 constituencies will end at 3pm, and at the usual 5pm in the rest.

Officials said that over the past two days, helicopters were pressed into service to airlift electronic voting machines, poll personnel and other paraphernalia to 158 booths in five districts. Senior police officials also said these polls have 126 new polling booths in areas that were inaccessible before due to Maoist influence.