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By India Today News Desk: The result of the Karnataka Assembly election is out. The Congress bagged 135 seats, securing a comfortable victory. Karnataka was the fourth state to hold an assembly election in 2023 so far (Tripura, Meghala and Nagaland went to the polls earlier), and we’re not done yet. India has a busy election schedule this year and there are more polls in the pipeline before the big general elections in 2024.
Assembly elections will be held in five states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — later this year, setting the stage the crucial general elections.
The legislative assembly of Mizoram ends on December 17. Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh legislative assemblies end on January 3 and January 6, 2024, respectively. The tenures of the Rajasthan and Telangana assemblies will come to an end on January 14 and January 16, 2024.
While the dates of these state polls are yet to be officially announced, assembly elections are expected in November-December in all of these states.
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Madhya Pradesh: The election in Madhya Pradesh is expected to be a tough fight between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the principal opposition Congress. Madhya Pradesh, which has 230 seats, has the BJP in the majority and is led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The 2023 election in the state will come nearly four years after the Congress government collapsed in the state forcing the then CM Kamal Nath to quit. Congress had won the previous assembly election and formed the government.
However, a rebellion and defection by former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia enabled BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chauhan to return to power.
Rajasthan: The Rajasthan Assembly with 200 seats has Congress in the majority with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at the helm. But the state is plagued by infighting between the party’s factions led by Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
Just like Madhya Pradesh, the opposition BJP and ruling Congress are expected to be in a neck-and-neck battle in Rajasthan. In the 2018 Assembly election, the Congress wrested power from the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government. The BJP secured only 73 seats.Both Pilot and Gehlot have been locked in a bitter power tussle since 2018.
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Chhattisgarh: There are 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel. In 2018, the Congress secured a massive victory by winning 68 seats out of 90 in the state while the BJP secured 16.
Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singh Deo and Bhupesh Baghel have been in a tug of war since the Congress trounced the BJP to form the government in Chhattisgarh.
As far as BJP is concerned, the saffron party is likely to bank on Raman Singh, one of the longest-serving chief ministers of the state. However, the opposition BJP got a major blow with the exit of veteran tribal leader Nand Kumar Sai ahead of election.
Telangana: Telangana, India’s youngest state, will see a triangular contest involving the BJP, Congress and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi, the new avatar of the erstwhile TRS. Telangana is ruled by BRS and the state’s chief minister is K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been nurturing national ambition.
His party is aiming for a larger national role in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the Assembly election in November-December 2023 will be a litmus test. KCR has met several oppostion leaders in a bid to unite them to oust the ruling BJP from the Centre.
In 2018, K Chandrashekar Rao secured a landslide victory by winning 87 of the 119 seats. The party upped its tally from 63 in 2014.
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Mizoram: In Mizoram, the Mizo National Front (MNF), which is part of both the NDA at Centre and the BJP-led NEDA in the region, looks set to return to power again.The Mizo National Front (MNF) government won 26 out of the 40 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections. The Congress could win only 5 seats. The BJP opened its account in the state for the first time.
The MNF wants to improve its tally, and so does the BJP. Congress is struggling to keep its flock together. MNF is part of both NDA at Centre and the BJP-led NEDA in the region. And chances are that it will grab the power again.
(With agency inputs)
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