Campaign ends for MP, Chhattisgarh contests

A weeks-long campaign for the high-stakes assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and second and last phase of Chhattisgarh polls wrapped up on Wednesday, with the pre-poll discourse largely centering around the economy, corruption and terrorism ahead of voting on November 17.

- 

VOTING TOMORROW

Both will see straight contests between the BJP (which governs Madhya Pradesh) and the Congress (in power in Chhattisgarh), as top leaders from both parties scaled the length and breadth of the two states.

Around 54 million voters will elect 230 members to the Madhya Pradesh assembly. The BJP, which has governed the central Indian state for 18 of the past 20 years, is looking to fend off anti-incumbency and the Congress's charges of corruption.

The party has fielded seven members of Parliament, including three Union ministers - Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the campaign for the BJP, holding 14 rallies and a roadshow over the past week, pushing residents of Madhya Pradesh to vote for a "double-engine government" (the party's nomenclature for BJP governments at Centre and state).