Election season kicks off in India as Chhattisgarh and Mizoram go to polls

Election season in India kicked off on Tuesday (Nov 7), with two key states going to the polls that will likely set the stage for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Elections are taking place for the first phase in India’s central state of Chhattisgarh, where the fates of the candidates on 20 out of 90 seats will be sealed today. Mizoram is also holding single-phase polls on all of its 40 seats on November 7.

In Chhattisgarh, the fight is mainly between the incumbent Congress party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which sits in the opposition.

A total of 223 candidates are contesting in the first phase of the elections in Chhattisgarh. The second phase begins on November 17, along with single-phase polling in another central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Elections are also due in two more states—Rajasthan and Telangana—where single-phase polls will be held on November 23 and 30, respectively.

Elections in Mizoram

On 40 seats in the northeastern state of Mizoram, a total of 174 candidates are in the fray. According to the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, over 850,000 voters will exercise their franchise in 1,276 polling stations today.

Watch:India elections to kick off with polls in Chhattisgarh, Mizoram

Congress and BJP are not the prime contenders but local parties—the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) and main opposition party Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM)—dominate the politics of the state.

Both of these parties, along with Congress, have fielded their candidates on all 40 seats. However, the BJP is fighting on just 23 seats.

Chief Minister Zoramthanga is confident of the MNF returning to power on the strength of its performance and the initiative for ‘Zo unification’ following the ethnic violence in Manipurthat broke out on May 3, forcing more than 11,000 Kuki-Zomi people to take refuge in Mizoram.

PM Modi’s appeal

Earlier in the day, PM Modi urged the voters of the two states to vote in record numbers and “exercise their franchise and strengthen the festival of democracy.”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also called upon Mizoram’s youth to “come out and vote in large numbers.”

“Each and every vote will lay the foundation of a developed and prosperous Mizoram,” he wrote on X.

IED blast injures one CRPF personnel

Meanwhile, media reports show that a personnel of the Central Police Reserve Force (CRPF) was injured in an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) blast triggered by Naxals in the Tondamarka area of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday.

The personnel was deployed on election duty.

(With inputs from agencies)