New Delhi. The Election Commission, which came under criticism for not being able to hold elections in four states simultaneously, has shown its strength. When the Commission has announced the assembly elections of Maharashtra and Jharkhand, it has said that voting will be held in one phase for all the 288 seats of Maharashtra. In Jharkhand too, instead of multiple phases, the Commission has decided to conduct voting on all 81 seats in two phases. The dates of by-elections for 48 assembly and two Lok Sabha seats have also been announced. Voting will be held in Maharashtra in one phase on November 20 and in Jharkhand in two phases on November 13 and 20. The results will come on 23 November.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar held a press conference with both the Election Commissioners on Tuesday, in which he announced the assembly elections of both the states and by-elections for the vacant seats of Lok Sabha and Assembly. It is noteworthy that the tenure of Maharashtra Assembly is ending on 26th November and the tenure of Jharkhand Assembly is ending on 5th January 2025.
However, while announcing the elections of both the states, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has said that voting will be held on all 288 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly in a single phase on November 20, for which the notification will be issued on October 22. The process of filling nominations will begin from the same day, which will continue till October 29. Nomination papers will be scrutinized on October 30 and names can be withdrawn till November 4. There are a total of 9.63 crore voters in Maharashtra, out of which about 21 lakh are those who will vote for the first time.
On the other hand, in Jharkhand, the first phase of voting will be held on 13th November and the second phase of voting will be held on 20th November. The first phase notification will be released on October 18 and nominations will start from the same day. The nomination process will continue till October 25. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 28 and names can be withdrawn till October 30. Voting will be held on 43 seats in the first phase. The second phase of voting will be held on November 20, the notification for which will be issued on October 22 and nominations will be done till October 29. Nominations will be scrutinized on October 30 and nominations can be withdrawn till November 1. Voting will be held on the remaining 38 seats in the second phase. There are a total of 2.60 crore voters in Jharkhand, out of which about 13 lakh will vote for the first time.
In Maharashtra, there is a government of Mahayuti i.e. Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP, which will be challenged by Maha Vikas Aghadi. The Aghadi includes Congress along with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP. In this way, six big parties will contest elections in two alliances. On the other hand, in Jharkhand, Congress and RJD are in alliance with the ruling JMM, while the BJP-led NDA, which includes AJSU and JDU along with the BJP, will challenge it. BJP has decided to give nine to 11 seats to AJSU and two seats to JDU.