CHANGE OR CONTINUITY: WHAT DOES HEART OF INDIA WANT? Discussion on Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023

Institute for Governance, Policies and Politics presents CHANGE OR CONTINUITY: WHAT DOES THE HEART OF INDIA WANT? An online panel discussion on Madhya Pradesh State Assembly Elections 2023.

Following is the line of panelists:-
Prof. Sanjay Kumar, Co-Director, Lokniti, CSDS
Dr. Vikas Pathak, Deputy Associate Editor, Indian Express
Dr. Sajjan Kumar, Fellow, Prime Ministers’ Museum & Library, New Delhi
Moderator- Ms. Heena Goswami, Editorial Consultant & Host, #IGPPExpertTalks

Congress in the last Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in 2018, could manage to win with a narrow victory but couldn’t manage to complete the term as defections led to its ousting and in place came the BJP government. In 2023, the two national parties remain in neck-to-neck competition as BJP fights anti- incumbency and Congress rides high on its recent electoral successes in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh and is keen to avenge its unseating. BJP has been on a defensive mode, trying to attract female voters as the state cabinet recently decided to reserve 35 per cent seats in government jobs for women in order to make it big in the elections.

Both the parties remain ridden with factionalism and in-fighting and the BJP seems keen to change its leadership guard as it hasn’t projected the current CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan as its future CM candidate, yet. AAP has also announced candidates for several constituencies and will possibly cut into Congress’s vote share, remaining it to be seen how it fares for the INDIA alliance.