Kalaburgi (Karnataka):

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that the grand old party will form the government in all the five states, going to polls next month and that there is anti-incumbency in the Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Madhya Pradesh.

While speaking to ANI in Kalaburgi, Mr Kharge said that the Congress-led governments in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are doing their work properly and people there are not facing any problems.

The Assembly Elections are scheduled to be held in single or two phases in all five states– Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram– in November.

The elections will be held in Mizoram on November 7, Chhattisgarh on November 7 and November 17, Madhya Pradesh on November 17, Rajasthan on November 25 and Telangana on November 30. The counting of votes will take place on December 3 in all the states.

“Congress’ preparations for the elections in five states are going well. We are confident that we will win in all the states. There has been an anti-incumbency for the BJP owing to mainly inflation, and unemployment,” Mr Kharge told ANI.

He said that people in Madhya Pradesh are turning against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government.

The Congress chief levelled accusations at the BJP at the Centre saying that the party didn’t fulfil any of its poll promises. “Whatever promises were made, BJP did not fulfil even a single promise. Be it unemployment, doubling farmer’s income, or investment,” he said.

Mr Kharge who is on a visit to his home district of Kalaburgi, Karnataka, went on to allege that the Central government is neglecting Karnataka. “No central projects are being given (to Karnataka),” he said.

Congress and BJP are the key players in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Telangana is expected to witness a triangular contest between the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Congress and BJP.

Madhya Pradesh assembly has 230 seats. In the 2018 elections, Congress won 114 seats with a vote share of 41.5 per cent while BJP got 109 seats with a vote share of 41.6 per cent. 

Congress government lost the majority in 2020 following the resignations of some MLAs considered loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia, who later joined the BJP. The BJP came to power in the state with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the Chief Minister.

Rajasthan has 200 seats with Congress almost winning a majority in the state in 2018 by wresting 99 seats, it came to power with the help of BSP and independent MLAs. The party had a vote share of 39.8 per cent and has ruled the state for the past five years with Ashok Gehlot as Chief Minister. BJP won 73 seats with a vote share of 39.3 per cent in the 2018 polls.

In Telangana, the ruling BRS won 88 of 119 seats and a vote share of 47.4 per cent in the 2018 elections. Congress came at a distant second with 19 seats and a vote share of 28.7 per cent.

Congress stormed to power in Chhattisgarh in the 2018 elections, winning 68 of 90 seats in the state assembly. The party had a vote share of 43.9 per cent. BJP won 15 seats and had a vote share of 33.6 per cent.

In a 40-member Mizoram assembly, Mizo National Front bagged 26 seats with a vote share of 37.8 per cent to emerge victorious in the 2018 polls. Congress secured five seats and BJP won one seat.

Political parties have been making preparations for the assembly polls in five states with their leaders addressing rallies and announcing promises to people.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The BJP’s Central Election Committee met on Friday to finalise its candidates for the coming assembly polls amid indications that the party’s top brass may field Union ministers in Rajasthan as it did in Madhya Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda among other CEC members brainstormed following hectic meetings the national leadership had with state leaders from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana in the last couple of days to address regional concerns and narrow down the list of probables.

Sources said this could be the last meeting of the BJP’s CEC, which has already met three times until now.

The BJP is yet to name any candidate for the 119-member Telangana assembly elections slated for November 30.

It has declared 41 candidates, including seven MPs, for the November 25 elections to the 200-member Rajasthan assembly and 136 for the November 17 elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.

 There is a view that some Union ministers, including Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, may be fielded in the Rajasthan polls.

  Its Madhya Pradesh candidates include three Union ministers and four other MPs. It has declared most of its nominees for Chhattisgarh and Mizoram assembly polls. PTI KR RT

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

As five states go to polls, data compiled by a think tank showed that these state assemblies — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram — met for less than 30 days a year and the number of sittings have been going down over the years.

The Rajasthan assembly met for 29 days in a year on an average and the Telangana assembly for 15 days, according to a report by PRS Legislative Research.

Between 2019 and 2023, average sittings of the assembly in Chhattisgarh was 23 days a year, with average sitting time being five hours.

The Madhya Pradesh assembly had sittings for 16 days, around four hours a day on average, and the Mizoram assembly sat for 18 days, with each sitting being around five hours, it stated.

The Election Commission on Monday announced the assembly poll schedule for these five states, to be held between November 7 and 30.

Single-phase assembly polls will be held in Madhya Pradesh on November 17, Rajasthan on November 23, Telangana on November 30 and Mizoram on November 7, while Chhattisgarh will vote in two phases on November 7 (20 seats) and 17 (70 seats).

According to the PRS Legislative Research report, the Rajasthan assembly had the highest number of sittings among these five states – around 29 days per year, and each sitting was around seven hours long.

In four of the five states for which long-term data is available, sittings have reduced over time, it stated.

In their first 10 years, the Rajasthan assembly, on average, met for 59 days a year, while the MP assembly met for 48 days a year. In the last 10 years, the average annual sitting days have declined to 29 in Rajasthan and 21 in MP.

Telangana had its highest sittings in 2017 – 37 days. However, in every year since then, it met for less than 20 days.

Around 48 per cent of bills in these state assemblies were considered and passed on the same day or the day after introduction. Mizoram passed 57 bills during its current term, all on the same day or the day after introduction.

Citing examples, the report stated that in 2020, the Chhattisgarh assembly passed 14 bills in a single six-hour sitting. In Madhya Pradesh, 13 bills were introduced and passed over two days in 2022, and both sittings together lasted for five hours.

A large number of ordinances were also issued by these states. Between 2019 and 2023, Madhya Pradesh issued 39 ordinances, followed by Telangana (14) and Rajasthan (13).

In MP, 11 ordinances were issued in 2020, when the assembly met for only six days. Of these, six lapsed without being replaced by bills. Ordinances issued increased to 14 in 2021, when the assembly met for 20 days.

States issue ordinances when the assemblies are not in session.

The report also stated that the Rajasthan assembly did not elect a deputy speaker through its term.  Madhya Pradesh has not had a deputy speaker since March 2020 when there was a change in the government.

The report also said 17 per cent of members in the Chhattisgarh assembly are women. This proportion is 13 per cent in Rajasthan and less than 10 per cent in Madhya Pradesh.

In Chhattisgarh, women MLAs had 93 per cent attendance, men had around 88 per cent; in Madhya Pradesh, women MLAs had 79 per cent attendance, and men had 81 per cent, while in Rajasthan, women MLAs had 77 per cent attendance on average and men had 82 per cent.

In Rajasthan, the average participation of male and female members in debates is almost equal, it stated. PTI AO SMN

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The BJP will rely on “collective leadership” and the “Modi factor” in five state polls due this year, sources have told NDTV, revealing details of plans to bounce back from the chastening loss in Karnataka in May and a 3-4 defeat – to the opposition INDIA bloc – in bypolls earlier this month.

Sources have also said the party will try not to project a chief ministerial candidate, particularly not in the majority Hindi-speaking states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, in an attempt to keep regional leaders’ ambitions and rivalries in check, and reinforce the “party above individual” maxim.

In simple terms, the BJP is hoping big-name candidates will secure seats in which it is weaker, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal will see the party win another round of elections, and that an open chief minister’s post will act as an incentive to encourage regional leaders to work harder.

The plan is to also curb nepotism and avoid “dynasty politics” jibes, particularly since the allegation is one the PM lays at the door of the Congress. The party will now give one ticket per family, sources said.

READ |BJP Won’t Project Chief Minister Faces In Hindi-Speaking States: Sources

A glimpse of these plans were on offer this week in Madhya Pradesh.

Four MPs, three union ministers, and national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya – will contest and there iis no place (yet) for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

BJP sources told NDTV talk Mr Chouhan will be denied a ticket are “wrong”, but the “any big leader can be CM post-election” caveat does not augur well for the 64-year-old’s immediate political future.

READ |Shivraj Chouhan Sidelined In Madhya Pradesh Campaign? What BJP Sources Say

In the context of the Madhya Pradesh polls prep, NDTV was told that fielding MPs and union ministers conveys the “collective leadership” message; that message was underlined today too, with sources saying the party hopes fielding its “best team” will give it an edge over the Congress.

Also, in each of these states veteran leaders will be tasked with flipping seats lost five years ago.

The BJP will use the same approach to dislodge the Congress from Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and in Telangana, where Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi awaits.

BJP’s Rajasthan Assembly Election Plans

In Rajasthan, possible chief minister faces include union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal, and possible candidates include Rajya Sabha MP Dr Kirodi Lal Meena and Lok Sabha MPs Diya Kumar, Rajyavardhan Rathore, and Sukhveer Singh Jaunpuria.

Vasundhara Raje, 70, a two-term Chief Minister and a member of the Scindia royal family, is unlikely to return, even if she is widely seen as the BJP’s tallest and most influential leader in the state.

How the party handles Ms Raje, who has maybe the most appeal to non-BJP voters, will be critical, since she will almost certainly not sit in the Assembly as a MLA under another chief minister.

The BJP’s first list – around 49 seats – for Rajasthan is expected soon, possibly after Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party boss JP Nadda’s meet in Jaipur this evening.

Baghel Vs Baghel In Chhattisgarh

The BJP has gone a different route in Chhattisgarh, where it has named Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s nephew, Vijay, as its candidate for the top post. And, in a predictable twist, the party will want family divides to play out in its favour, for it has planned a ‘Baghel Vs Baghel contest.

Vijay Baghel, who is also a Lok Sabha MP, will fight from Patan in the Durg district. The seat has flip-flopped between the two since 2003, with the Chief Minister winning the last two polls.

READ |A “Baghel vs Baghel” Fight In Chhattisgarh? BJP Pits Nephew Against Uncle

Other potential BJP candidates include Union Minister Renuka Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Saroj Pandey. Significantly, the BJP hasn’t yet named former Chief Minister Raman Singh in its lists.

Battle For Telangana

The BJP’s tilt at Telangana is part of its ongoing ‘Mission South’ plan – to establish a government in South India, a part of the country that has frequently rejected its hardcore nationalist agenda.

The party did have Karnataka but its stuttering government was ousted by a dominant Congress earlier this year. Kerala remains completely immune to its charms, and Tamil Nadu has also rejected Prime Minister Modi’s party; on Tuesday the AIADMK walked out of the party-led NDA.

READ | “Happiest Moment”: AIADMK Ends Alliance With BJP, Exits NDA

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have also proven to be hard nuts to crack.

The former is due to vote in November and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy is a possible big-name candidate. Mr Reddy, who is from Telangana’s Thimmapur region, is also the party’s state boss.

There is talk Lok Sabha MPs Bandi Sanjay Kumar and Arvind Dharmapuri, both also from Telangana, may be fielded, as may the party’s OBC Front leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr K Laxman.

The fifth state going to the polls this year is Mizoram, where the BJP faces a potentially different kind of challenge – the knock-on effect of ethnic violence in neighbouring Manipur.