Five-state elections: 160 million voters to cast ballots as India gears up for ‘semi-final’ before 2024 general polls

India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led by prime minister Narendra Modi is in power in only one of the five poll-bound states.

• Shubham
• 09 October, 2023

Follow Us

By: Shubham Ghosh

IN what is seen by political observers and experts as a ‘semi-final’ ahead of the big ‘final’ — the general elections — next year, five states across India will go to elections in November, the country’s election commission announced in New Delhi on Monday (9).

The states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram — will hold polls between November 7 and 17 with the results for all of them to be announced on December 3.

All states barring Chhattisgarh will have a single-phase election while the central Indian state will go to polls on November 7 and 17.

Mizoram will go to polls on November 7; Madhya Pradesh on November 17; Rajasthan on November 23 and Telangana on November 30.

Election Commission of India announces schedule of elections to Legislative Assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana pic.twitter.com/VycK75BJpu

— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2023

Of the poll-bound states, only Madhya Pradesh is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister Narendra Modi while Mizoram is governed by the BJP’s ally Mizo National Front, even though their relation is far from being at its best at the moment.

Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are under the rule of the Indian National Congress, one of the major opposition parties at the national level.

Telangana is ruled by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, a regional party which was formerly known as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said elections to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be announced “at the right time”. He said this when asked by a reporter. Jammu and Kashmir, which ceased to become a state in 2019, has not had an elected government in the last five years.

The five-state elections will see 679 constituencies or around one-sixth of all legislative constituencies in the country. The elections will see 160 million voters, which is again almost a sixth of the total electors in India, casting their ballots.

“The elections in Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, MP, Telangana will have 8.2 crore (80.2 million) male and 7.8 crore (70.8 million) female voters. Out of these, 60.2 lakh are first-time voters,” Kumar said at the press conference.