Counting of votes begins in 5 states for Assembly elections

Counting of votes began this morning for the Assembly elections in  Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram.

In Madhya Pradesh, the counting is taking place for 230 constituencies. According to State Election office, counting of postal ballots will be taken up first. In Madhya Pradesh analysts have pointed to clear signs of the anti-incumbency factor against the BJP, which has been in power for 15 years now. 13 years after Shivraj Singh Chouhan first took up the post of Chief Minister, the certainty of him regaining his seat has been called into question. While the Congress has not projected a clear Chief Ministerial candidate, exit polls predict a close race in the central State, with four out of five polls giving it to the Congress. The State witnessed a record turnout in polling booths —74.61%.

In Chhattisgarh, counting is taking place for 90 seats in all the 27 district headquarters of the state.

In Rajasthan,  Chief Electoral officer Anand Kumar has said, the CCTV cameras have been installed to keep a close watch on counting process for 199 seats.

In Mizoram, counting is being held for 40 Assembly seats at 13 centres. As per reports that elaborate security arrangements have been made in and around the counting centres. The state saw a voter turnout of about 80 per cent. As many as 7,70,395 lakh voters were eligible to cast their vote in the state including 3.75 lakh males and 3.95 lakh females. The Congress party, which has been in power in Mizoram since 2008, is eyeing a third consecutive term in the state.

Coming to Telangana, the country's youngest state that went to polls on December 7, there are 119 seats are up for grabs. The major players in the southern state are the Rashtra Samiti (TRS), All India Majlis-eIttehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM), BJP  and a grand alliance called 'Praja Kutami', that comprises Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI). A total of 1,821 candidates were in the fray for the Assembly elections in Telangana. The state recorded a voter turnout of over 73 per cent.

(Featured image : Zee News – India.com)