Bhopal, Mar 16 (IANS): Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP made a near clean sweep in the previous two Lok Sabha elections, will go to the polls in four phases -- on April 19, April 26, May 7, and May 13.

While the BJP won 27 out of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh in 2014, it increased its tally to 28 five years later.

Reactions from politicians started pouring in soon after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections in the national capital on Saturday.

Seasoned BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls after two decades, has appealed to the party workers to join the election activities in the state with 'double energy'.

Expressing confidence that the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return to power at the Centre for the third consecutive term with a record victory margin, Shivraj Chouhan said: “The election dates have been announced, and now we have to hit the ground with double energy. The lotus will bloom again on June 4 (counting day)."

Veteran Congress leader and ex-Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who is focusing hard on his family bastion Chhindwara, appealed to the party workers to ensure that his son Nakul Nath retains the seat.

Chhindwara was the only Lok Sabha constituency the BJP could not win in 2019, as Nakul Nath emerged as the lone Congress MP from Madhya Pradesh by winning the seat.

Before that, Kamal Nath had won from Chhindwara for a record nine times.

“Now that the (election) dates have been announced, I appeal to the Congress workers to engage in election activity with full dedication and honesty. With the support of all of you, the Congress will put up a great show in the upcoming elections and achieve victory,” Kamal Nath said.

Another seasoned politician from the state, Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had lost on a Congress ticket from his family bastion Guna-Shivpuri in 2019 before shifting to the BJP in 2020, will be contesting his first Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket this time.

The Union Civil Aviation Minister, who inaugurated a BJP office in Guna on Saturday, told his supporters, “The electoral dates have been announced, so all the preparations must be completed now.”