The Election Commission on Friday announced bye-election to fill the vacant Chitrakoot seat in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. The voting for Chitrakoot bypoll will take place on November 9 while counting will take place on November 12.
The bypoll in Chitrakoot was necessitated after Congress MLA Prem Singh died in May 2017. Prem Singh had won the Chitrakoot seat thrice – in 1998, 2003 and 2013. With Chitrakoot being a Congress bastion for three elections, it will be a litmus test for the party to retain the seat. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party is hoping to grab the Chitrakoot seat before the state goes to polls in November 2018.
The model code of conduct has been put in place with immediate effect.
Here is the complete schedule of the Chitrakoot Assembly bypoll
| Poll Events | Schedule |
| Date of Issue of Gazette Notification | 16.10.2017 (MON) |
| Last Date of Nominations | 23.10.2017 (MON) |
| Date for Scrutiny of Nominations | 24.10.2017 (TUE) |
| Last Date for Withdrawal of candidatures | 26.10.2017 (THU) |
| Date of Poll | 09.11.2017 (THU) |
| Date of Counting | 12.11.2017 (SUN) |
| Date before which election shall be completed | 14.11.2017 (TUE) |
Reports say that the Congress is in a tricky situation as they cannot garner sympathy votest with Prem Singh being a bachelor and therefore having no immediate relative to succeed him. They are mulling over a candidate who can have the same impact as Prem Singh. BJP’s Surendra Singh Gaharwar had lost to Prem Singh in 2013 by 12,000 votes. It remains to be seen if the Congress can manage to retain its hold over Chitrakoot before the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections in 2018.
