‘Free flow of liquor, money to lure voters,’ alleges Kamal Nath as MP votes

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress state unit president, Kamal Nath on Friday said he was confident that the grand old party would wrest power in the state from the ruling BJP and also alleged that liquor and money was being distributed freely in the state to lure voters. Shortly before casting his vote in the ongoing elections in Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath said, “I have faith in the people to make the right choice. I trust the public to side with the truth.” In a dig at the incumbent Chief Minister, he added, “I am not Shivraj Singh Chouhan and will, hence, not claim that we are winning these many seats. I will leave that for the people to decide.” “The BJP has police, money, and administration at its disposal for a few more hours. Yesterday, I received several phone calls and also a video clip that shows liquor and money being distributed to lure voters,” the MP Congress chief alleged. Polling for 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh began at 7 am on Friday. The voters can cast their ballots until 6 pm, 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 pm. 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-led government. Webcasting facility has been made available at about 42,000 polling stations. Nearly 700 companies of 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 polls, coming nearly six months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, are crucial for both the BJP and Congress for several reasons. The counting of votes for the five states including Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will be done on December 3. Polling for the second phase in Chhattisgarh began at 8 am and will continue till 3 pm while voting in nine polling stations of the Bindranavagarh Assembly constituency will be held from 7 am to 3 pm. For Chhattisgarh, over 18,800 polling stations have been set up for the second phase of polling. A total of 958 candidates are in the fray across 70 seats. While polling is being held in a single phase in Madhya Pradesh, voting for the first phase in Chhattisgarh for 20 seats was held on November 7.