The counting of votes will take place on December 3 (File)
The battle for Madhya Pradesh is a prestige fight for the Congress. For the BJP, which has been ruling the state since 2004 barring two years, it is a chance to prove that the Congress victory of 2018 was an aberration.
For four-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, this election offers a chance for a record fifth term - something his detractors say will never happen.
The BJP has fielded an unprecedented seven MPs, including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Pralhad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste and the party's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya - raising speculation that many or all of them are contenders for the top job.
The party, in a departure from tradition, has not fielded Mr Chouhan as its Chief Ministerial candidate either - a move that had further fed speculation.
Mr Chouhan's supporters contended that once the party is back in power, he would be the Central leaders' choice. The fielding of MPs, they pointed out, happened only in the first two lists and they have been assigned constituencies where the party can win only with a tough fight. In its later lists, the BJP has gone with the Chief Minister's choices, they said.
Campaigning under the banner of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP is banking on its development and social welfare projects. The latest addition to the latter category is the Ladli Behna scheme, which, the party says, has been a hit with the rural population.
The party has also kept a strong focus on the Gwalior-Chambal and Mahakoshal regions, where it fared badly in the 2018 elections. The area accounts for 72 of the state's 230 assembly seats.
The Congress, following its successful Karnataka template, has made its poll promises in tranches - ending with 1.290 promises that include hiking the paddy procurement price to Rs 2,500 per quintal, filling up 2 lakh vacant posts, creating 1 lakh new posts in villages and turning the state into an industrial hub.
The party has also earmarked Rs 1.01 lakh for daughters under the Beti Vivah Yojana and benefits to the tune of Rs 2.51 lakh for the girl child under Meri Beti Ladli Yojana.
For the Congress, which found its government collapsing when Jyotiraditya Scindia walked over to the BJP camp with 20-plus loyalists, this election is a chance for revenge and proving once again that they and not the BJP, are the people's choice.
The counting of votes will take place on December 3, along with the votes of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.
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