EC announces assembly election dates for 5 states
May tie up with BSP, GGP in MP and Chhattisgarh
NEWDELHI: Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana will be held in four phases between November 12 and December 7, the Election Commission of India announced on Saturday, setting the stage for the polls that will serve as a precursor to the 2019 general election. The announcement acquired a tinge of controversy after being delayed by two-and-a-half hours.
Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh legislative assembly will be held in two phases on November 12 and 20. Madhya Pradesh, where the assembly has 230 seats, will go to the polls on November 28. The term of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power, expires on January 7.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, chief election commissioner OP Rawat said 18 constituencies in the southern part of Chhattisgarh where Maoist rebels have a presence will vote on November 12 and the remaining 72 on November 20.
Mizoram, the smallest of the poll-bound states with 40 assembly seats, will hold the elections on November 28. The tenure of the Mizoram assembly is till December 15.
LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday ruled out an alliance with the Congress for assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in November and December. “The Congress has made us wait for long. We cannot wait anymore,’’ SP chief Akhilesh Yadav told journalists in Lucknow
The announcement came three days after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati said no to a tie-up with the Congress for the polls.
Yadav said the SP will fight elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and speak to the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) and BSP for an alliance in the two states. “We are already in touch with the GGP for an alliance in Chhattisgarh. We will do the same in MP (Madhya Pradesh).”
The SP’S best performance outside its stronghold of Uttar Pradesh has been in Madhya Pradesh, where it won seven out of 161 seats it contested in 2003. In 2013, the party drew a blank in the state.
The combined vote share of the Congress (36.38%), the BSP (6.29%) and SP (1.20%) — 43.87% — in Madhya Pradesh was almost equal to the BJP’S 44.88% in 2013. The BJP has been in power in the state since 2003. In Chhattisgarh, the BSP (4.27%) and Congress’s (40.29) combined vote share of 44.56 was more than the ruling BJP’S 41.04% in 2013.
Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesman J P Dhanopia blamed the SP’S unrealistic demand for seats for the failure in coalition talks. “Like the BSP, the SP’S demand for seats was unrealistic given their lack ground support in the state. They do not have a single seat (in Madhya Pradesh),’’ he said. “They were under the impression that Congress would go for a coalition in any circumstances, but they were wrong. We can and will fight and win alone.”
The SP had on September 28 announced its plan of contesting 24 out of the 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.
Separately, Yadav said the question was irrelevant as of now when asked whether the SP would support Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister if a Congress-led alliance won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “As of now, I want that the Bjp-led government is voted out of power,” said Yadav.
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Like the BSP, the SP’S demand for seats was unrealistic given their lack ground support in the state. They do not have a single seat (in MP)
JP DHANOPIA, MP Cong spokesman