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ECI to announce Maharashtra, Jharkhand assembly poll schedule at 3.30pm
By-polls across states were expected to be held along with assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, where tenures of assemblies are due to end on November 26 and January 5
The Election Commission of India (ECI) will announce the schedule for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls at 3.30 pm on Tuesday even as by-polls to three Lok Sabha, including Kerala’s Wayanad, and at least 47 assembly seats across states were also due.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi vacated the Wayanad seat and retained Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli after winning both in this summer’s Lok Sabha polls. Nanded (Maharashtra) and Basirhat (West Bengal) are the other two vacant Lok Sabha seats. The by-polls were expected to be held along with assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, where tenures of assemblies are due to end on November 26 and January 5.
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.
The BJP overcame anti-incumbency and registered its highest vote share and seat tally—48 of the 90 seats—even as exit polls predicted Congress’s victory in Haryana. The Congress failed to keep up the momentum of the national polls this summer when it won five of the 10 in Haryana. Its performance was better in Maharashtra, where it emerged as the largest party in the Lok Sabha polls by winning 13 of the 48 seats. The BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) won nine seats each, Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCPSP) eight, Shiv Sena seven, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) one, and independent one.
The Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) won 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra as it registered unexpectedly strong results overall winning 233 constituencies and restricting the BJP to 240 nationally, below the majority mark of 272.
In 2019, the single-phase election to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly elections was held on October 21. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won a majority but the alliance ended due to differences over the chief ministerial post. The President’s rule was imposed in the state before BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the chief minister and NCP’s Ajit Pawar his deputy on November 23, 2019. The two resigned three days later before the floor test.
On November 28, 2019, Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress formed the government as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance with Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister. Thackeray resigned on June 29, 2022, after a faction of Eknath Shinde-led 40 lawmakers split and allied with the BJP. Shinde was subsequently sworn in as chief minister and Fadnavis as his deputy.
The Supreme Court in June 2023 said it could have reinstated Thackeray had he refrained from resigning as the Maharashtra chief minister. It added the court cannot quash a resignation and maintained status quo ante cannot be given since Thackeray resigned. The court said the governor erred in concluding that Thackeray had lost the majority in the House after the Shinde rebellion. It added the governor had no objective materials to call for a floor test.
The NCP also split over a year later as Ajit Pawar led a rebellion like Shinde along with nine of his party colleagues, and was sworn in as the deputy chief minister.
In 2019, assembly elections to 81-member Jharkhand 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.
