The ECI will today come up with the dates for the General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The press conference is scheduled for 3:30 PM. Maharashtra’s assembly term expires on November 26 this year while Harkhand’s expires on January 5, 2025.
In Maharashtra, commitment on 230 assembly seats out of 288 is agreed amongst the Mahayuti alliance that includes BJP, Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party. The NCP’s Praful Patel stated that talks for the rest of the seats are still in progress and the final decisions are expected within short span. According to other sources BJP has declared 140- 150 seats and Shiv Sena- 80 and NCP- 55.
On the side of opposition another major alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi ( Congress – Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) and Nationalist Congress Party ( Sharad Pawar faction) has given seats for 210. Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT) said that they would declare the list of their candidates soon. Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena had also conveyed assurance to the MVA that it would back the alliance in the future with the objective of gaining power in Maharashtra again.
Responding to the JMM’s decision, JMM leader and Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren asserted that his-party alliance is ready to fight every seat in the state assembly and claimed confidence in its preparedness to defend its rule.
Further, the ECI said bye-elections may be held for three parliamentary constituencies including Wayanad, Nanded and Basirhat besides 47 assembly seats across the country which have fallen vacant for several reasons.
