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'Action replay': EC takes a note out of Cricket rules to combat poll malpractices
While announcing dates for the elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that no record is left unkept in process.
The Election Commission of India on Tuesday highlighted that all processes during elections are videographed by the poll body.
While announcing the dates for the elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that no record is left unkept in process.
“As you know, there is no process in the entire election where video recording does not take place, and no record is left unkept,” Rajiv Kumar said.
"Every process can be checked and reviewed later, just like an action replay in cricket. Here, a replay cannot happen during the game, but it can certainly happen everywhere afterwards," he added.
Poll dates announced
The Election Commission on Tuesday announced the dates for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls 2024.
Maharashtra will go to polls in a single phase on November 20. In Jharkhand, polling will be held in two phases – on November 13 and November 20. The counting of votes in both the states will be held on November 23.
The upcoming Maharashtra election will see a key contest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (Shiv Sena-UBT, NCP-Sharad Pawar faction, Congress) and the ruling Mahayuti Alliance (BJP, Shiv Sena-Eknath Shinde faction, NCP-Ajit Pawar faction).
In the 2019 assembly election, the BJP won 105 seats, while the Congress secured 44. The BJP's performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections saw a drop, winning only nine seats out of 48, compared to 23 in the previous term, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi won 30 seats.
In the 2019 assembly election in Jharkhand, the polls to elect 81 members to the state assembly were held from November 30 to December 20. The results were declared on December 23, with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance emerging as the winner with 47 seats. The BJP bagged 25 assembly seats. It emerged as the biggest party in the Lok Sabha by winning eight of the 14 seats this summer. The JMM won three, and ally Congress two Lok Sabha seats. The AJSU Party won the remaining Lok Sabha seat.
The Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls will be the second major electoral exercise since the Lok Sabha polls. They will be held after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered an unexpected victory and returned to power in Haryana for a record third time. The polls in Haryana were held along with Jammu & Kashmir, where the National Conference-led alliance swept to power.
