Madhya Pradesh Elections 2023: 'Getting love from Ladli Behna, children, youth and elderly in the state,' says CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Ahead of casting his vote in the ongoing state elections, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said, "There is immense excitement among people everywhere. I am getting love from Ladli Behna, children, youth and the elderly in the state..."

Earlier the Chief Minister called on the people of the state to come out in large numbers and exercise their franchise.

"To Vote is the right given to every citizen of the country and it is the duty of the citizen to cast his vote. I appeal to all the brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews in the state to exercise their franchise and become part of the State's growth story" the Chief Minister said in a post on X.

Voting for Madhya Pradesh's all 230 assembly seats began at 7 a.m. today. The voters can cast their ballots until 6 p.m., except in the Baihar, Lanji, and Parswara assembly seats of Balaghat district and some booths in Mandla and Dindori districts, where voting will be held until 3 p.m.

BJP is seeking to retain power in the state where it has ruled for almost 18 of the past 20 years and Congress is keen to oust the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

The webcasting facility has been made available at about 42,000 polling stations. Nearly 700 companies of the central forces and two lakh police personnel of the state have been deployed for security during the poll.

The election will decide the electoral fate of over 2,500 candidates. Nearly 5.59 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.

It includes 2.87 crore male and 2.71 crore women voters. There are over 5,000 booths run by women and 183 polling stations run by the disabled, officials said.

The counting of votes for the five states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will be done on December 3.

(ANI)