Assembly Elections 2024 : Voting in Maharashtra on November 20, Jharkhand to Have Two-Phase Polls; Results on November 23
New Delhi: The Election Commission today announced the schedule for the assembly elections in Maharashtra. The state has a total of 288 assembly seats. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar informed that voting in Maharashtra will take place on November 20, with the counting of votes scheduled for November 23. According to the election schedule released by the commission, the notification for Maharashtra’s elections will be issued on October 22, and the last date for filing nominations will be October 29. Nominations can be withdrawn until November 4, 2024.
In Maharashtra, the ruling ‘Mahayuti’ alliance, comprising Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the BJP, and Ajit Pawar’s faction of the NCP, will face off against the opposition ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ (MVA), which includes the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar-led NCP. In the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections, the BJP emerged as the largest party, winning 105 out of the 288 seats. Its ally, Shiv Sena, won 56 seats. Despite having enough seats to form the government, the alliance split due to a power struggle over the chief minister’s post. Eventually, the Shiv Sena formed a government with the NCP and Congress under the MVA banner, with Uddhav Thackeray as the Chief Minister.
For Jharkhand, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced that the state’s assembly elections will be held in two phases. The first phase of voting will take place on November 13, followed by the second phase on November 20. The results for the Jharkhand elections will also be declared alongside the Maharashtra results on November 23. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will face off against the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led government, aiming to unseat it. In the 2019 Jharkhand assembly elections, the JMM-led alliance, which included the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), won a decisive victory, securing 47 out of the 81 assembly seats.
In 2019, the JMM emerged as the largest party with 30 seats, while the Congress won 16 seats, and the RJD secured 1 seat. The BJP, which was in power before the elections, won 25 seats. After the elections, JMM leader Hemant Soren was sworn in as Chief Minister. However, this time, Soren faces a tough challenge due to allegations of corruption in a land scam.
Reacting to the announcement, BJP leader Pratul Shah Deo said, “We welcome the Election Commission’s announcement. 2.6 crore people will vote to choose the next government of Jharkhand. We appeal to the public to come out in large numbers to overthrow this autocratic, corrupt, and anti-people government from the state.”