"It's matter of a few hours now:" MP home minister Narottam Mishra ahead of counting of votes

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra has exuded his confidence in his party- Bharatiya Janata Party winning the elections and said that the BJP will form the government in the state with the majority.

"We will win 125-150 seats in the state. BJP will form a government in the state. It is a matter of a few hours now," Mishra said.

The counting of votes of assembly elections held in Madhya Pradesh on November 17 began at 8 am on Sunday.

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections were held on November 17, 2023, to elect all 230 members of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Voting was carried out in a single phase.

Most exit-poll projections released on Thursday put the BJP in the lead, with the Congress seen to be coming up short and not cashing in on the 'anti-incumbency' as they had hoped to. Some exit polls, however, gave an advantage to the Congress party.

Madhya Pradesh has been a BJP stronghold for the last twenty years, barring the 15-month tenure of the Kamal Nath-led government when Congress came to power in 2018.

Meanwhile, Jitu Patwari, a Congress leader took a swipe at the BJP and said that the chaos created by the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh is about to 'end'.

"...The kind of 'Tandav' the BJP had created by tearing apart the dignity of democracy, created a market of MLAs the country has seen. After all these circumstances, people have suffered the pain of inflation, unemployment, and diseases...The kind of chaos they have created in the country is about to end...," Patwari said.

The BJP fought the poll under a largely collective leadership while Congress projected former Chief Minister Kamal Nath as its chief ministerial face.

According to the results of exit polls, the welfare schemes of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, referred to as "Mamaji" by people, along with that of the BJP government at the Centre seemed to have had an impact on the electorate in Madhya Pradesh which has a sizeable section of tribals and Dalits.

The last state assembly polls in 2018 saw the Congress coming to power, with Kamal Nath taking oath as the chief minister. Later, Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 MLAs, switched over to the BJP and Chouhan again assumed office as Chief Minister of the state.

The state's overall turnout hit a record high of 76.22 per cent for the 230-member Assembly this year, up from 74.97 per cent in 2018, when the Congress won but was toppled by defections just over a year later.

In the 2018 elections, BJP secured 109 seats, while BSP and SP won 2 and 1 seat(s) respectively.

Meanwhile, the poll results on Sunday will decide the political future of the state's longest-serving Chouhan and his Congress challenger Kamal Nath besides that of some other senior leaders from both the parties.

Shivraj Chouhan assumed the role of Chief Minister in 2005 and was subsequently sworn in again in 2008 and 2013.