MP polls: CM Chouhan urges people to vote for development of state

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday urged the people of the state use their votes for the development of the state. Further, while talking to ANI, Chouhan predicted that Congress is not going to make it in Madhya Pradesh.

"I request the people of the state to use their votes for the development of the state...There is only love and blessings for the BJP among people. We work for the betterment of the people of the society... Congress is not going to make it in Madhya Pradesh this time. When Congress was in power, people did not get anything, today everyone stands with BJP," he told ANI. On being asked about the CM face, the Chief Minister said that party leaders don't think about themselves, as their mission is to work for the development of the country and the state.

"This is not important to me. Our party makes the decision on who has to work where. We don't think about ourselves, our mission is to work for the development of the country and Madhya Pradesh...BJP is going to get the biggest majority in the history," he told ANI. Voting for Madhya Pradesh's 230 assembly seats began at 7 a.m. today. The voters can cast their ballots until 6 p.m., except in the Baihar, Lanji, and Parswara assembly seats of Balaghat district and some booths in Mandla and Dindori districts, where voting will be held until 3 p.m.

BJP is seeking to retain power in the state where it has ruled for almost 18 of the past 20 years and Congress is keen to oust the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. The webcasting facility has been made available at about 42,000 polling stations. Nearly 700 companies of the central forces and two lakh police personnel of the state have been deployed for security during the poll.

The election will decide the electoral fate of over 2,500 candidates. Nearly 5.59 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. It includes 2.87 crore male and 2.71 crore women voters. There are over 5,000 booths run by women and 183 polling stations run by the disabled, officials said.

The counting of votes for the five states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will be done on December 3.