Maharashtra, Jharkhand Assembly Elections Dates To Be Announced Today
The poll body will hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. to release the schedule.
The Election Commission of India will announce the assembly poll dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand on Tuesday. The poll body will hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. to release the schedule.
The Maharashtra assembly elections were widely expected to be conducted alongside Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir in September or October. However, when the dates for the two northern states were announced, Maharashtra was skipped.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar then said that in the previous election, Maharashtra and Haryana polls were conducted together, as Jammu and Kashmir was not a factor.
Given the logistical and force requirements, the decision was made to combine the Haryana and J&K elections. Therefore, the elections for Maharashtra will be scheduled separately, he said.
Factors influencing this decision included the monsoon and the festive season. Considering these events, the commission determined it was feasible to manage only two states at a time.
The 288-member legislative assembly in Maharashtra is set to complete its term on Nov. 26. The previous assembly election in Maharashtra was held in October 2019.
For Jharkhand, the current term ends on Jan. 5 next year. Elections there were held in December 2019.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance achieved a majority in 2019 to form the government in Maharashtra. Due to internal conflict, Shivsena left the alliance to form a new coalition with the Nationalist Congress Party and Indian National Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, with party boss leader Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister.
In June 2022, the Thackeray government collapsed after defections and the NDA returned to power with Eknath Shinde as the CM.
This time, the MVA, comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar), and Congress, is preparing to challenge the ruling NDA alliance. The Mahayuti alliance consists of the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).
The Soren family-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won the 2019 assembly polls, defeating the BJP. Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who was arrested in an alleged corruption case last year and got bail in July, is aiming to secure a second term in an alliance with the Congress.
