The Election Commission on Tuesday, October 15, announced the schedule for Maharashtra Assembly polls, which will take place in a single phase on November 20, 2024.
The counting of votes will for the Maharashtra Assembly elections will take place on November 23, coinciding with that for the Jharkhand poll.
The term of the 288-seat Maharashtra assembly ends on November 26.
Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 Full Schedule
Notification date: October 22
Last date for filing out nominations: October 29
Scrutiny of nominations: October 30
Last date for withdrawal of Candidature: November 4
Date of Poll: November 20, 2024
Counting of Votes: November 23
The Election Commission also announced the schedule for Jharkhand Assembly elections, which will be held in two phases -- November 13 and second phase coinciding with Maharashtra polls, on November 20.
Notably, in the previous Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2019, voting was held on October 21 for all 288 seats, and voter turnout was 61.4 per cent.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, secured a majority, however, disagreements over government formation led to the alliance's collapse, sparking a political crisis.
With no party able to form a government, President's rule was imposed in the state. In an early morning development on November 23, 2019, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister and NCP's Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister. Both resigned on November 26, ahead of a floor test. Two days later, on November 28, 2019, a new alliance -- Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) -- was formed by Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress, with Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray becoming chief minister.
On June 29, 2022, Uddhav Thackeray resigned after a faction of Shiv Sena MLAs, led by Eknath Shinde, broke away and joined forces with the BJP. Eknath Shinde was then sworn in as Chief Minister, with Devendra Fadnavis taking the role of deputy chief minister.
Over a year later, political developments shook things up again in the Maharashtra government. NCP leader Ajit Pawar was sworn in as Deputy chief minister of the state after splitting the party led by his uncle Sharad Pawar, resulting in his joining the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde) government.
