Maharashtra goes to polls on Nov 20

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced the dates for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly polls 2024. Maharashtra will go to polls on November 20, while polling will be held in two phases in Jharkhand on November 13 and November 20. The counting of votes will be held on November 23.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the date of issue of Gazette notification for the Maharashtra Assembly election is October 22, the last date of filing nominations is October 29, the date for scrutiny of nominations will be October 30 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is November 4.

While the term of the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly ends on November 26, that of Jharkhand ends on January 5 next year.

"There are 9.63-crore eligible voters in Maharashtra while the number of eligible voters in Jharkhand is 2.6 crore," the Chief Election Commissioner said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

In Jharkhand the Assembly polls will be held in two phases. While elections will be held for 43 seats on November 13, remaining 38 seats will go to polls on November 20. The counting of votes will be done on November 23 along with Maharashtra. Bypolls will also be held in 48 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats, the CEC said. Bypolls to the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal and Milkipur in Uttar Pradesh were not announced as election petitions are pending for the two seats.

Kumar said elections will be held in both the states on Wednesdays to address the problem of urban apathy.

The BJP is keen to retain power in Maharashtra along with allies Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

The BJP led Mahayuti alliance is facing a challenge from the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition of the Congress-NCPSP-Shiv Sena UBT, which hopes to repeat its Lok Sabha performance in the Assembly elections. The opposition MVA alliance won 31 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections.

In Jharkhand, the Congress is playing second fiddle to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, while the BJP is looking to make a comeback.