New Delhi, October 15: Assembly elections in Maharashtra will take place on October 20 in a single phase and the results will be declared on November 23, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, ECI Rajiv Kumar said that the date of issue of Gazette notification is October 22, the last date of filing nominations is October 29, the date for scrutiny of nominations will be October 30 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is November 4.
The elections in Maharashtra where the term of the assembly ends on November 26 come as part of the second set of states to go to polls after the Lok Sabha elections after Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. With the announcements, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect in the state.
With 288 Assembly seats, Maharashtra will see a peculiar contest between the ruling BJP–Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde)-NCP (Ajit Pawar) combine and the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharad pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance as the Mahayuti fights to retain power for a second term in the state.
The political situation has changed drastically in the state since the conduct of the Assembly elections in 2019 which the undivided Shiv Sena contested jointly with the BJP.
The alliance, which won a comfortable majority, eventually fell over a dispute over chief ministership. The Shiv Sena went on to join hands with the Congress and NCP to form a government under the banner of the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Now, the key contenders in the Maharashtra elections are the ruling Mahayuti Alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress.
In the recent parliamentary elections to 48 seats in the state, the opposition MVA fared well. The BJP's share fell to 9 seats, down from 23 seats five years ago. MVA secured 30 seats.
In the 2019 assembly election, the BJP won 105 seats and the Congress 44.
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