The race to form the next government in the ‘heart of India’ has been officially flagged off as the voting began for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Thursday. The polls are taking place in a single phase across 52 districts with 2,534 candidates in the fray. 


Around 5.6 crore registered voters will be sealing the fate of the candidates at 64, 523 polling stations set up across the state. 


Voters’ Demography


Of the total 5.6 crore registered voters in the state, 2.88 crore male voters, 2.72 female voters, and 1292 voters from the LGBTQ+ community will be exercising their franchise in the Friday polls. 


Around 22.36 lakh are new voters in the ages of 18 and 19 while 6.53 lakh senior citizens aged 80 and above are also in the voters' list and 5,124 voters are aged above 100. 


5.05 lakh voters belong to the Person with Disability category. 


MP Polls In Numbers 


Constituency With Highest Number Of Candidates: Ater (Bhind) with 38 candidates 


Constituency With Least Number Of Candidates: Sendhwa (Barwani) 


Total Number of Candidates: 2,534 


Female Candidates: 253


Male Candidates: 2,281


Total Constituencies: 230 


General Constituencies: 148 


Constituencies Reserved For Scheduled Caste: 35


Constituencies Reserved For Scheduled Tribes: 47 


Key Candidates To Look Out For In MP Polls 


BJP


Shivraj Singh Chouhan, fielded from Sehore seat in Budhni constituency is looking for a fifth term as the chief minister of the state. 


Narottan Mishra has been nominated from the Datia seat and is the current home and jail minister of the state. 


Kailash Vijayvargiya is contesting the polls from Indore constituency. 


Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, from Dimni seat in Murena district. 


Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel, fielded from Narsinghpur seat. 


Congress 


Kamal Nath is contesting the polls from Chhindwara seat and is looking for a comeback in the polls. 


Lakshman Singh, nominated from Chahchora seat in Guna district. 


Jayvardhan Singh, fielded from Guna's Raghogarh constituency. 


Ajay Singh is contesting from Churhat seat in Sidhi district. 


Jeetu Patwari has been nominated from Indore's Rau seat.