BHOPAL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP’s campaign built around a development platform for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, which ended on Wednesday, with the Congress promising economic empowerment, caste census and “strength” for women. Prices for Farmers’ Produce.
With the first phase scheduled for April 19, voters will now seal the fate of 88 candidates contesting on six seats in the state, including Congress’ Chindwar MP Nakul Nath and Mandla (ST) nominee Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste. The campaign in Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat and Chhindwara constituencies ended at 6 pm. It ended at 4 pm in Baihar, Lanji and Paraswada assembly constituencies, which are part of Naxal-hit Balaghat district, an official said.
MP Chief Returning Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan has directed election officials to ensure that no outsiders are present in these constituencies 48 hours before polling, the official said. Around 1.12 crore voters, including 57.02 lakh men, 55.66 lakh women and 184 transgender persons, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase held on Friday, for which 13,570 polling booths have been set up, the official said.
PM Modi kicked off the first phase of the campaign with a massive roadshow in Jabalpur on April 7. Jabalpur is a part of the state’s Mahakoshal region and includes Chindwar, the only Lok Sabha constituency that the BJP failed to win in the 2019 elections. The remaining 28 seats were won by the ruling party. On April 9, Modi hit out at the opposition’s India Bloc at a rally in Balaghat district, accusing its constituents of working to protect the corrupt and abusing and threatening the country’s development.
The upcoming Lok Sabha elections are the objective of building a new India and the BJP-led NDA sought people’s blessings to take big and historic decisions in its third term. Congress’ star campaigner and former president Rahul Gandhi began the first phase of election campaign by addressing rallies in Mandla and Shahdol Lok Sabha constituencies.
Gandhi expressed his confidence in winning the election by promising to transfer Rs 1 lakh to the accounts of women belonging to SC, ST and backward classes every year. The former Congress chief, addressing his first meeting in Dhanora in Seoni district, part of Mandla constituency, promised that his party would provide guaranteed apprenticeships to unemployed youth if it comes to power.
“Our manifesto is that we have taken three or four revolutionary steps like transferring Rs 1 lakh to the (bank) accounts of women belonging to SC and ST categories, backward classes and women from poor families. He claimed that through this, thousands of rupees will be credited to his account every month.
Congress has fielded former minister and MLA Omkar Singh Markham from Mandla constituency against sitting MP and Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste. Apart from Modi, top BJP leaders including party president JP Nadda, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur campaigned for the saffron outfit in the first phase.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma also campaigned for their party candidates. Shah held a road show in Chindwar, the home ground of Congress leader Kamal Nath and his family, which the BJP is trying to usurp in a bid for a clean sweep of MPs.
Except for Rahul Gandhi, none of the big Congress leaders visited Madhya Pradesh for the first phase of campaigning. Among the top leaders of the state Congress, while Nath is confined to Chhindwara, former CM Digvijaya Singh’s focus is now on the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency, from where he is pitted against BJP’s two-time MP Rodmal Nagar.
State Congress President Jitu Patwari and former Union Minister Arun Yadav participated in the first phase of campaigning. While the BJP’s campaign revolved around the plank of development woven by PM Modi, the Congress too focused on conducting a caste census and providing “fair” prices for farmers’ produce.
Modi targeted Gandhi over the Congress leader’s claim of eradicating poverty from the country in one fell swoop, saying the old party had been in power for long but had done nothing on the issue except the ‘Garibi Hatao’ slogan.