New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are gearing up for polls this week. While the polling for all 230 seats in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held in a single phase, 70 seats will be up for voting in the second phase in Chhattisgarh on Friday.
Meanwhile, the air quality in Delhi is likely to worsen this week after people in the city of 20 million defied a ban on firecrackers on the night of Diwali.
Stay with ABP Live as we try to cut the clutter around the latest news from the political arena and help you understand what is likely to happen in The Week Ahead. Here are the biggest political developments expected to play out this week.
Chhattisgarh Election Phase-2: 958 Candidates In Fray For November 17 Polls
Out of the total 90 assembly seats in the state, polling in the remaining 70 seats will be held in the second phase on November 17.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deputy CM TS Singh Deo, their eight cabinet colleagues, state assembly Speaker Charan Das Mahant are among the prominent candidates from the Congress in the second phase.
In the second phase of voting, the contest in Patan seat will be keenly watched as CM Bhupesh Baghel of the Congress will take on his nephew and BJP candidate Vijay Baghel, the Lok Sabha member from Durg.
The entry of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) state president Amit Jogi, son of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, from Patan has added another dimension to the contest. In the high-profile Ambikapur seat, Deputy CM Singh Deo is pitted against BJP's Rajesh Agrawal.
In the Raipur South seat, the Congress has fielded Dudhadhari Math's Mahant Ram Sundar Das against BJP strongman Brijmohan Agrawal.
The first phase of polling for the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh was held on November 7.
Madhya Pradesh Polls: 2,534 candidates To Vie For 230 Seats
Madhya Pradesh will go to polls for the 230-member Assembly in a single phase next month while the counting of votes will be held on December 3 with other poll-bound states.
The term of the present Madhya Pradesh Assembly is from January 7, 2019, to January 6, 2024.
The number of electorates in the state is 5,61,36,229, including 75,304 service voters.
Therefore, there are a total of 5,61,36,229 voters registered in the state according to the last publication, Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan said.
Of these, there are 6,53,640 elderly voters who are 80 years or above, 5,05,146 are disabled voters and 99 are Non-Resident Indian (NRI) voters. Besides, there are 22,36,564 first-time voters, he added.
According to Rajan, there were a total of 64,523 polling stations in the state for the upcoming assembly polls.
Tribal Activists Threaten Self-Immolation Ahead Of PM Modi's Jharkhand Visit
Tribal activists threatened self-immolation if Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make any announcement on the long-standing demand for recognition of Sarna religion during his proposed November 15 visit to Jharkhand.
The activists will also observe a fast between 10 AM to 1 PM in Jharkhand and other states on the day in support of the demand, 'Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan' (ASA) president Salkhan Murmu said.
Modi is scheduled to visit Ulihatu, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda, in the Khunti district of the state on his birth anniversary on November 15, which is also the Jharkhand Foundation Day.
The threat was issued by two activists of the ASA but their decision on it was made independently, Murmu said.
Low-Pressure Area Around Likely To Form Over Southeast Bay Of Bengal Around Nov 14
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that a low-pressure area is likely to form over the Southeast Bay of Bengal around November 14.
It is likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify into a depression over Central and adjoining South Bay of Bengal around November 16, the IMD said in a statement.
Speaking on the low-pressure area formation, Sanjeev Dwivedi, a scientist at Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar told ANI, "A cyclonic circulation lies over the Gulf of Thailand and extends upto mid-tropospheric levels tilting southwestwards with height. It is likely to emerge into the Andaman Sea on November 13. Under its influence, a low-pressure area is likely to form over Southeast Bay of Bengal around November 14."
Delhi Pollution: Air Quality Likely To Worsen As Revellers Defy Firecracker Ban
New Delhi's air quality is likely to worsen this week as people in the city of 20 million, which has struggled with heavy pollution recently, defied a ban on firecrackers on the night of Diwali, the annual Hindu festival of light.
Every year government authorities or India's Supreme Court impose bans on firecrackers - but only rarely do those bans appear to be enforced.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) across all 40 monitoring stations in the capital averaged 219 on a scale of 500, according to the federal pollution control board data, indicating "poor" conditions that can affect most people on prolonged exposure.
The AQI data also showed that the concentration of "PM2.5" poisonous particulate matter in a cubic metre of air was around 100 micrograms per cubic meter - 20 times higher than the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended maximum.
