Stage set for polls in 5 states

161 million voters to have their say in last batch of key assembly polls in run-up to the Lok Sabha elections; verdict out on Dec 3

- Deeksha Bhardwaj

Over 161 million people in five states across India’s heartland, south and northeastern fringes will vote in assembly elections next month, the election commission of India announced on Monday, pressing the trigger on the home stretch of the 2023 poll season leading up to the general elections next summer.

Mizoram, the smallest of the poll-bound states with 40 seats, will vote on November 7. Elections in Chhattisgarh, which has a 90-member assembly, will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana will go to the polls on November 17, 23 and 30, respectively.

The votes will be counted on December 3.

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the polls in these states hold a unique significance, because they will act as the final assembly elections before general elections in 2024.

The five-state elections are widely seen as a virtual semi-final for the Lok Sabha polls scheduled to be held in April-May next year and a sandbox for shaping electoral narratives, coalition arrangements and leadership decisions. Three of the five states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – will also feature near-bipolar contests between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, offering an opportunity to test the strengths of the two national parties that will go head to head in nearly a third of all Lok Sabha seats.

To be sure, the results of these polls are not necessarily mirrored in the general elections. In 2018, for instance, the Congress won in this poll cycle across the heartland states — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh — but the BJP swept 62 of the 65 Lok Sabha seats six months later.

BJP national president JP Nadda said his party will form the government in all five states.