Maharashtra polls on Nov 20, Jharkhand on Nov 13, 20; results on Nov 23

New Delhi: The Assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20, while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20, the Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday. The votes for the two states will be counted on November 23.

"There are 9.63 crore eligible voters in Maharashtra, while the number of eligible voters in Jharkhand is 2.6 crore," Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference here.

Bypolls will also be held in 48 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats, the CEC said

Bye-elections to 47 assembly seats and the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, vacated by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, will be held on November 13.

Bypolls to the Kedarnath assembly seat in Uttarakhand and the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra will be held on November 20. Bypolls to the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal and Milkipur in Uttar Pradesh were not announced as election petitions are pending for the two seats. Kumar said elections will be held in both the states on Wednesdays to address the problem of urban apathy.

The BJP is keen to retain power in Maharashtra along with allies Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The BJP led Mahayuti alliance is facing a challenge from the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition of the Congress-NCPSP-Shiv SenaUBT, which hopes to repeat its performance in the Lok Sabha elections. The opposition MVA alliance won 31 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections.

In Jharkhand, the Congress is playing second fiddle to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, while the BJP is looking to make a comeback.

The BJP-led NDA has already started campaigning to regain lost ground, deploying Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who have been raising the issues of "Bangladeshi infiltration" and "rampant corruption".

In response, the JMM-led ruling alliance, under Chief Minister Hemant Soren, is countering with a focus on welfare schemes, such as the Abua Awas Yojna and Maiyan Samman Yojna, which increases financial assistance to women aged 18-50 from Rs 12,000 to Rs 30,000 annually.

The opposition INDIA bloc is also intensifying efforts to challenge the NDA's ambitions.

Key factors that are likely to influence the election include the BJP's welfare schemes and the arrest and subsequent bail of Soren by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ruling alliance claims the arrest was politically motivated, as Soren was detained in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the contest was close, with the JMM winning 30 seats and the BJP securing 25, down from 37 in 2014. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won a comfortable majority with 47 seats.

The BJP has announced that its seat-sharing arrangement within the NDA is "almost final," with the first list of candidates expected within the next 48 hours.

According to the proposed arrangement, the Sudesh Mahto-led AJSU Party will contest 9-11 seats, while the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) will field candidates in two constituencies. Talks regarding seat-sharing with LJP (Ram Vilas) are scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, pending the return of its chief Chirag Paswan from abroad.

On Monday, Soren confirmed that the JMM-led alliance will contest all 81 seats, although seat-sharing with allies is yet to be finalized. The Congress said it will contest the polls in alliance with the JMM, with a decision on seat-sharing expected soon.

(Inputs from PTI)