ECI to announce schedule for Maharashtra, Jharkhand elections today

New Delhi, Oct 15: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will announce the schedule for Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections on Tuesday.

The Commission will hold a press conference at 3.30 p.m. at the Plenary Hall of Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital.

The term of the 288-seat Maharashtra Assembly will end on November 26 and that of the Jharkhand Assembly, with 81 seats, will end on January 5, 2025.

The whole poll process has to be completed before that as per the rules.

Around 50 bypolls are also due and the ECI is likely to also announce the election dates for these.

In September to assess the preparations for the upcoming Assembly Elections in Maharashtra, a team comprising top officials from the ECI was in Mumbai to take stock of the situation. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, held meetings with district collectors and superintendents of police and met the political representatives also.

The ECI team also toured Jharkhand to assess the situation there in September. The ECI team led by CEC Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu held discussions with political parties as also the officials. Representatives of six national parties, including BJP, Congress and CPI(M) and three regional parties -- JMM, RJD and AJSU gave their views and submitted their representation to the Election Commission.

With the schedule to be announced by the ECI, the model code of conduct will also come into effect.

All the political parties in both states will name their candidates and begin campaigning.

In Maharashtra, the contest is chiefly between the ruling Mahayuti coalition -- the BJP, Shiv Sena, and Nationalist Congress Party -- and the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which includes the Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT).

In Jharkhand, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress alliance (the INDIA bloc) will take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which includes the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), Janata Dal (United), and the BJP.