The country is in the midst of a tough electoral battle. A key battle was fought in the Centre of the country in November when the elections for the state of Madhya Pradesh were held. The voter turnout for this closely fought election was a whooping 74.61 %, more than 2percentage points higher than the 72.13% voting recorded in 2013.

Everyone interested in the country’s political scenario has their eyes and ears attuned to Madhya Pradesh election news at the moment. On the 7th December, exit poll results are also coming out. A key question on everyone’s lips have been, ‘Who will be the next CM?’. Peopleare awaiting the verdict and watching Madhya Pradesh election news tosee if Congress finally be able to trump BJP or will BJP retain power for 4th consecutive term. The results of the state election will play a vital role in setting the tone for both the parties -Congress and BJP – as they step into LokSabha poll mode for 2019. The statesends 29 members to Lok Sabha and 11 members to Rajya Sabha torepresent the State in the Parliament and thus is a big contributorin term of numbers.

BJP has been on a quite extensive winning streak since 2014, bar some small debacles in some states. As per experts, PM Modi’s popularity has had a large effect in these victories. Also, a key driving factorhas been Amit Shah’s strategy in setting the tone for the campaignand effective booth management. For BJP the booth-level campaigns areconsidered pivotal for success and often the party’s strategy ishinged on booth level campaign success. For the current electionsModi can be heard espousing, “Mera booth, Sabse majboot in his campaigns and rallies.

BJP has focused on the development discourse running up to these elections. While once upon a time the stat was a part of the BIMARU states, it has come a long way and is progressing on most fronts. Key areas where significant development has been achieved in the state under BJP rule include, a burgeoning private sector, power surplus as well as improvement in education and health services. The government has also run various agricultural schemes and claims to have attained double-digit growth rate. A first of its kind scheme named Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana is being considered the current government’s trump card. As part of this scheme , the variation between the market price and the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the crops will be deposited directly into the accounts of 16 lakh farmers. However, ther is another issue at play here. There is a strong anti-incumbency wave and many feel that the the situation on the ground is different.

In all its wins in the state, BJP has relied on the mass popularity of its leaders. Shivraj Singh Chouhan is also a popular face in MP just as Uma Bharti was before him. This coupled with the fact that theCongress has not been able to put forth very popular leaders as itsface in the current elections, does give BJP a boost. The electionresults are now just around the corner and we will soon know whetherthe saffron party’s strategies have been able to yield the desiredresults.