The Congress' plans to wrest power from the BJP were shattered as the grand old party has managed to surge ahead in only 59 of the 230 seats in the assembly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party seems poised to return to power in the State where it ruled for 20 years, barring a short span in 2018 when Chief Minister Kamal Nath-led Congress party was in power.
Senior BJP leaders, including state unit head V.D. Sharma and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, who was the co-incharge for MP, reached the BJP headquarters here.
The Congress, which is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the BJP, which is ruling Madhya Pradesh, are locked in a straight fight in these three states, while K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is hoping for a hat-trick in Telangana.
Over 2,500 candidates await electoral fate; 5.59 million voters are eligible, including 2.87 crore male and 2.71 crore female voters in Madhya Pradesh.
Congress party nominee from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh Paras Saklecha, recently took an unconventional approach to woo voters, creating a stir on social media.
While the BJP asserts its continued success based on socio-political equations, the Congress contends that it has rectified past mistakes and anticipates a different outcome this time.
Voting for Madhya Pradesh's 230 Assembly seats began at 7 a.m. on Friday, alongside the second phase of Chhattisgarh's elections for 70 out of 90 seats.
He highlighted the work done by his party in Delhi and Punjab in education, health and power sectors and said those can be done in Madhya Pradesh as well.
