In what is being dubbed as the semi-final before the general elections in April 2019, the results are coming in for five crucial state polls – Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram.
Ruling BJP is fighting to retain MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, while Congress is trying to make a desperate come back upbeat with the exit polls predicting gains for the opposition party.
Even as counting is yet to finish Congress camps in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have broken into a celebration. The party is leading in the state and its Rajasthan chief Sachin Pilot, along with senior party leader Askhok Ghelot have from their respective constituencies.
However it is engaged in a close contest with the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. K Chandrashekar Rao’s party TRS has also taken a huge lead in Telangana and is inching towards victory. In Mizoram, regional party MNF is leading, with the Congress being the distant second.
In Mizoram, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla lost elections in both the constituencies he was contesting from. In
Telangana, KCR’s supporters have started celebrating the imminent win. His daughter K Kavitha said his hard work had paid off. “We are seeing the response of the people. The hard work in four and a half years has paid off,” she said. “Nobody knows Telangana like KCR,” she said.
In the first win of the day, AIMIM’s Akbaruddin Owaisi has won from the Chandrayangutta constituency of Telangana.
Here are the LIVE Updates:
In Chhattisgarh, counting will be held for all 90 Assembly seats. Counting centres have been set up in all the 27 district headquarters of the state.
In Madhya Pradesh, counting will take place for 230 Assembly constituencies.
According to State Election office, counting will begin at 8 am. Postal ballots will be taken up first.
Counting from electronic voting machines will start at 8:30 am.
In Telangana, votes will be tallied for 119 Assembly seats. Counting centres have been set up at 43 locations most of which are at district headquarters.
In Rajasthan, counting will take place for 199 seats out of 200 assembly constituencies at 8 AM. Our correspondent has filed this report:
In Mizoram, counting will be held for 40 Assembly seats. Our correspondent reports, 13 counting centres have been set up across the state: