Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi is all set to address the 'Jan Aakrosh Rally' in the Mandla district of the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. According to the MP Congress media department Chairman KK Mishra, Gandhi will reach Jabalpur first and then she will be heading for Mandla. State Congress chief Kamal Nath will also be addressing the public rally alongside Gandhi at around 12 noon at the Ram Nagar ground. The Congress is yet to announce any candidates for the elections, though Kamal Nath has been declared as the CM face.
Priyanka Gandhi addressed the people of Dhar earlier on October 5. During her address, she attacked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government over alleged financial irregularities in the 'Mahakal Lok' corridor of Ujjain and the Vyapam recruitment scam. She said that it was high time to change the BJP regime. She also took a dig at the Centre over the Women's Reservation Bill and said that the Modi government was treating women as a "joke" as the legislation to reserve seats in assemblies for women could not be implemented for 10 years.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already announced candidates for 136 seats out of the 230 till now. Kamal Nath on the other hand has said that Congress will announce the list of its candidates after 'Shraadh' (another term for Pitru Paksha). Shraadh, a period during which Hindus pay homage to their ancestors, started on September 29 and will end on October 14.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Wednesday ordered the transfer of several top police and administrative officers, including 25 police commissioners and superintendents of police, in the five poll-going states. The poll panel has asked the transferred officials to immediately hand over the charge to their respective immediate juniors and directed respective state governments to send a panel of officers to replace those shunted out by this (Thursday) evening.
According to the announcement of the Election Commission, the polling dates for all 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh will be held on November 17 in a single phase. The counting of votes will be held on December 3.