Assembly Elections 2018: BJP exudes confidence of registering 'record victory'

Welcoming the announcement of polling dates for five states, the BJP expressed confidence Saturday that it will register a "record victory" in the elections and retain power in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

Senior BJP leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Bharatiya Janata Party will have a record victory on the basis of its hard work and development measures besides the performance of its governments in the three states. He also mocked his party's principal challenger, the Congress, saying it failed miserably in its efforts to forge an alliance against the BJP for the state polls. It is not in the Congress's DNA to create, maintain and sustain the "gathbandhan Dharma", Prasad said, adding that it is only for a family, a reference to the Gandhi dynasty.

Lauding the performance of the party's three state governments, he said a new state like Chhattisgarh has become a "model of development" in the country. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were "bimaru" states under the Congress rule but have scaled great heights of development in agriculture, infrastructure, digitisation and investment. The Election Commission announced that assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana will be held between November 12 and December 7.

While Chhattisgarh will go to polls in two phases on November 12 and 20, elections in Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram will be held on November 28. Polling in Rajasthan and Telangana will be held on December 7, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat said. Counting of votes will be taken up together in all the five states on December 11, he added. P