Election Commission Announces Assembly Poll Dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand; Results on 23rd November
New Delhi/Mumbai, 15th October 2024: The Election Commission announced the dates for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand on Tuesday. Maharashtra will hold elections in a single phase on November 20, while Jharkhand will conduct its polls in two phases on November 13 and 20.
The vote counting is scheduled for November 23, according to the Election Commission. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar also revealed the dates for bye-elections in 47 assembly seats and the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, which are set for November 13.
Kedarnath’s assembly seat in Uttarakhand and the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra will also have bypolls on November 20, as per Rajiv Kumar’s statement.
In Maharashtra, the Mahayuti alliance, including Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the BJP, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, will face off against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance, which consists of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar’s NCP.
During the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP became the largest party with 105 out of 288 seats, while its ally, Shiv Sena, won 56 seats. Together, they secured a majority to form the government.
However, a conflict over the Chief Minister’s role caused a rift between the two allies, leading Shiv Sena to form a coalition with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, under the MVA. Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena became Chief Minister.
The MVA government, however, collapsed in June 2022 after a faction of Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, rebelled against the party’s alliance with Congress and the NCP. Shinde and his supporters eventually joined hands with the BJP, and he became the new Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the upcoming elections will see a contest between the INDIA bloc and the BJP, which aims to challenge the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led coalition.
In 2019, the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance secured 47 out of 81 seats, with JMM winning 30 seats, Congress taking 16, and RJD securing 1 seat. The BJP, previously in power, won 25 seats, and Hemant Soren of JMM assumed the role of Chief Minister.
This time, Soren faces challenges, including allegations of corruption related to a land scam.
