Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2028

What this countdown tracks

The election to the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, expected by November 2028 on the five-year cycle from the 17 November 2023 polling. Some 56 million eligible voters in India's fifth-most-populous state — and the heart of the Hindi belt — elect their MLAs and, indirectly, the Chief Minister of the state government in Bhopal.

About this election

The 2023 vote produced one of the BJP's most dominant state results, with the party winning 163 of 230 seats on a 48.6 percent vote share — sweeping the Malwa, Bundelkhand and Mahakoshal regions. The Indian National Congress collapsed to 66 seats despite a 40.4 percent share, and Mohan Yadav was sworn in as Chief Minister on 13 December 2023, replacing Shivraj Singh Chouhan who had served as CM for nearly 17 years across four terms.

Madhya Pradesh's politics now sit firmly within the BJP-versus-Congress bipolar frame after the BSP's near-collapse and the SP's marginalisation. The Ladli Behna Yojana cash-transfer scheme for women, launched by Chouhan in 2023 and continued by Yadav, has become the template the BJP exported to Maharashtra and Delhi. The 2024 Lok Sabha results — BJP 29 of 29 seats — confirmed the depth of the realignment.

Key issues

The 2028 campaign will weigh the Yadav government's record on the Ladli Behna programme's fiscal sustainability, the Ken-Betwa river-linking project that the union government cleared in late 2024, the OBC sub-categorisation question reopened after the 2024 Supreme Court Punjab judgment, agricultural distress in the soybean and wheat belts, the future of Indore's industrial corridor and the Ujjain Mahakal Lok complex tourism economics, and the Congress's leadership question between Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh and the next generation.

Past results

• 2023 (17 Nov): BJP 163 seats (48.6%), Congress 66 (40.4%), BAP 1 — Mohan Yadav sworn in as CM.
• 2018: Congress 114, BJP 109, BSP 2, SP 1 — Kamal Nath formed government, fell in March 2020.
• 2013: BJP 165, Congress 58, BSP 4 — Shivraj Chouhan's third term.
• 2008: BJP 143, Congress 71, BSP 7 — Chouhan's second term.

How to follow

The Election Commission of India and the MP Chief Electoral Officer publish results at results.eci.gov.in and ceomadhyapradesh.nic.in. ABP News, Aaj Tak, NDTV India and Sahara Samay run dominant Hindi coverage; The Indian Express, The Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar (the largest Hindi daily) anchor print coverage. Polls open 07:00 to 18:00 IST.

Related countdowns

Madhya Pradesh's 2028 vote runs in the same window as the late-2028 Indian state cluster — Rajasthan assembly election, Chhattisgarh assembly election and Telangana assembly election. For Hindi-belt context see the Uttar Pradesh assembly election.

FAQ

When is the Madhya Pradesh 2028 election? Expected mid-to-late November 2028 on the five-year cycle from the 17 November 2023 vote. Who is running? BJP under Mohan Yadav defending; Congress under whoever is state president by 2028 (currently Jitendra Singh). Why does this election matter beyond India? Madhya Pradesh is India's geographic centre and a Hindi-belt bellwether for national BJP performance ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha vote. Is the Ladli Behna programme sustainable? A live policy question — the scheme costs roughly ₹18,000 crore annually and competes with Ken-Betwa, agricultural support and capex priorities.