In Madhya Pradesh, voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm, except in Baihar, Lanji, and Parswara assembly seats of Balaghat district and some booths in Mandla and Dindori districts, where voting will end at 3 p.m.
It is a two-pronged fight in both states, with the BJP seeking to retain power in Madhya Pradesh and vying to come back in Chhattisgarh.
Madhya Pradesh
In Madhya Pradesh, BJP was in power for 18 of the 20 years. Though the Kamal Nath-led Congress government was elected in 2018, he was ousted after a faction led by Jyotiraditya Scindia broke away to join the BJP.
Though BJP's aggressive campaign in the state saw party senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, wooing voters, the party has not yet announced a chief minister face. The campaign too had banked heavily on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the election campaign.
One reason for this could be the "fatigue factor", according to ANI. Though Chouhan is not facing anti-incumbency, a section of the population is reportedly yearning for a change.
The BJP made many key promises in its manifesto, including subsidised LPG cylinders at Rs 450, support for farmers, free education for girls, homes for everyone, and developmental projects including 6 expressways
As for Congress, Kamal Nath is helming the campaign and is being projected as the chief minister.
Besides chief minister Chouhan (Budhni) and state Congress president Kamal Nath (Chhindwara), three Union ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste -- are contesting the polls.
BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywrgiya is contesting from Indore-1 and three Lok Sabha MPs of the saffron party -- Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak -- are also in the fray. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's son and ex-state minister Jaivardhan Singh and former chief minister Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh are contesting from their traditional Raghogarh and Churhat seats, respectively.
Chhattisgarh
In the second and final phase of assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, as many as 958 candidates, including Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deputy CM T S Singh Deo, eight state ministers and four members of Parliament, will seek a mandate.
Chief Minister Baghel (Patan seat), T S Singh Deo (Ambikapur), assembly speaker Charan Das Mahant (Sakti), and eight state ministers, including Tamrdhwaj Sahu (Durg Rural) and Ravindra Choubey (Saja), are among prominent Congress candidates in the second phase.
From the BJP, state unit chief and MP Arun Sao (Lormi), Leader of Opposition in the assembly Narayan Chandel (Janjgir-Champa), Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh (Bharatpur-Sonhat-ST), MP Gomti Sai (Pathalgaon-ST), former ministers Brijmohan Agrawal (Raipur South), Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud) and Punnulal Mohile (Mungeli) are among key candidates in the second and final phase.
While BJP has targetted Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel over the alleged betting app scam and religious conversion, the Congress mounted a counter-offensive claiming their party is concerned about the interest of the poor.
The Congress based its campaign on a slew of welfare schemes rolled out by the Baghel government for farmers, women, tribals and Dalits, and accused the Centre of handing over resources to select industrialists. The party has tried to woo farmers with the promise of a loan waiver, also made by it in 2018, and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) with a caste survey.
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