Modi, Gandhi duel in key Indian state election
NEW DELHI AFP NOV28,2018 - Millions of Indians voted Wednesday in a state election seen as a key dual between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his main rival before the whole country goes to the polls in 2019.
Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has governed the central state of Madhya Pradesh, home to 73 million people, since 2003 having won three state elections in a row.
But polls suggest that the opposition Congress headed by Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Gandhi-nehru dynasty, could win on the back of concerns about rising unemployment and by appealing to disgruntled farmers. The party, which lost power in Madhya Pradesh in 2003 -- and nationally to Modi in 2014 -- has campaigned aggressively against three-time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on issues of corruption and misgovernance. Chouhan, who lead the BJP to a thumping majority in the 2013 elections, has nevertheless sounded confident. Modi himself has addressed no fewer than 10 rallies in the state in a hard-fought campaign.
“This is not the toughest election of my career, it’s very comfortable,” Chouhan told reporters after casting his vote.
The vote is one of five state elections this month and next that are a litmus test of Modi’s popularity ahead of general elections that have to take place before May but for which no date has been announced yet.