EC announces polls in Jharkhand on Nov 13, 20 and Maharashtra on Nov 20, results on Nov 23
- EP News Service
- Oct 15, 2024
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has declared the dates for the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, which was much anticipated by the political parties, especially after the recent results of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
The elections to the 288 assemblies in Maharashtra will take place in a single phase on Wednesday, November 20 while the votes will be counted on Saturday, November 23, while the elections for Jharkhand's 81 seats will be held in two phases on Wednesday, 13 November and Wednesday, 20 November and results for the elections will be announced along with Maharashtra on November 23.
The term of the Maharashtra Assembly will end on November 26, while the term of the Jharkhand Assembly will end on January 5, 2025. During the media briefing, the chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said that there will be a total 9.63 crore eligible voters in Maharashtra, out of these, nearly 21 lakh are first-time voters. In Jharkhand, the CEC informed that there will be 2.6 crore eligible voters, of which nearly 1.14 lakh will be over the age of 85.
In addition to the assembly elections, the ECI has also announced by-polls to 48 Assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha seats, including Wayanad in Kerala and Nanded in Maharashtra, both of which were won by Congress candidates.
The Wayanad seat in Kerala was vacated by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as he decided to retain the family bastion, Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. His sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has announced that she will make her poll debut from Wayanad as per the Congress party's plans to expand its footprint in South India, especially in Kerala. The Nanded Lok Sabha seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MP Vasantrao Chavan in August.
The election in 48 assembly seats, which fell vacant due to various reasons, will also be held next month. Nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will vote in the bye-polls including Meerapur, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, karhal, Phulpur, katehari, Majhawan, and Sishamau. In Rajasthan, seven Assembly bye-polls including that of Chorasi, Khinswar, Dauda, Jhunjunu, Deoli-Unlara, Salumber, and Ramgarh. Bypolls to Kedarnath assembly seat in Uttarakhand will also be held on November 20, Rajiv Kumar said.
In the recently concluded elections in Haryana, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won for a record third consecutive time and dealt a big blow to Congress, which was anticipating to win by a huge margin as was being predicted by various exit polls and political pundits.
In Jammu & Kashmir, the alliance partners of the INDIA bloc, the National Conference and Congress won by a handsome majority in a closely contested election, which saw BJP also posting its best-ever performance in the state's first poll to elect an assembly in the last 10 years and first time since the abrogation of Article 370.
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