EC To Announce Maharashtra, Jharkhand Poll Dates Today

The Election Commission of India will announce the schedule for Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections at 3:30 pm on Tuesday.

Notably, the current of the Maharashtra Assembly ends on November 26 and that of Jharkhand ends on January 5, 2025.

Earlier, Maharashtra elections were thought to be held along with the Jammu and Kashmir, and Haryana Assembly polls. However, ECI had explained that the polls were being delayed due to "weather", "festivals" and a few other reasons.

Elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in three phases -- September 18, 25 and October 1 -- and for Haryana in a single phase on October 5. Results for both were declared on October 8, with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging victorious in Haryana and the National Conference-Congress alliance taking the win in the Union Territory.

During the announcement of the poll dates in J&K and Haryana, CEC Rajiv Kumar had explained, "Last time, Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections were held together. At that time, J&K was not a factor but, this time there are four elections this year and a fifth immediately after this."

He said that depending on the requirement of forces, the poll panel decided to conduct two elections together.

Additionally, Kumar noted that other factors were also considered, saying, "There was heavy rainfall in Maharashtra and there are several festivals lined up too.”

In Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance will contest on all 81 seats in the upcoming Assembly polls.

Speaking after a meeting of the JMM central committee meeting on Monday, Soren exuded confidence in the party's preparedness and asserted that their alliance will regain power in the state.

"I participated in the JMM central committee meeting today along with all other workers and executive committee members. We reviewed our election preparedness and we are confident of winning the assembly elections. The JMM-led alliance will contest all the 81 seats," Soren said.

He further said that, unlike the opposition BJP, the JMM-led alliance does not believe in making announcements as it implemented several welfare schemes.

Soren's wife and JMM legislator Kalpana Soren also said that the alliance was confident of victory as it was voted to power in 2019 despite a "double-engine" BJP government.

Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Majhi highlighted that JMM has empowered women through several initiatives, contrasting it with the previous BJP government, which faced criticism for women's trafficking issues.

The JMM, in a statement said, "The central president (Shibu Soren) and executive president (Hemant Soren) of the party were authorised by the central committee for division of assembly constituencies with alliance partners besides selection of candidates of the party."

In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had in August said that he would back any candidate announced by the Congress or Sharad Pawar's NCP as Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) chief ministerial face.

The CM face of the opposition alliance, MVA, is yet to be announced.

Thackeray had said that the assembly elections in the state would be a fight to protect the self-respect of Maharashtra.

Notably, the electoral battle in the state will witness a face-off between the Mahayuti -- the NDA alliance -- and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) -- Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP-SP, and Congress.

Thackeray had said that the CM face should be picked first, rather than going by the logic of the party which will win the majority seats in the elections.

In 2019, the Maharashtra polls results were nothing short of a roller coaster ride for the state.

The victory was initially secured by the NDA -- Shiv Sena and BJP. They formed a coalition government since they fell short of a majority. However, given the disagreements between the two parties over several matters, including the CM post, the alliance was dissolved in November 2019.

Though Devendra Fadnavis held the CM post and Ajit Pawar held his deputy's post for a very short time, both of them resigned before a floor test.

This led to the formation of a MVA government, comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress. Unfortunately, this also did not last. In 2022, Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde joined hands with the BJP and brought down the MVA government.

Subsequently, Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy. NCP's Ajit Pawar also holds the Deputy CM post.