Assembly Elections 2024: Maharashtra polls on Nov 20, two-phase voting in Jharkhand from Nov 13

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, October 15, 2024: Maharashtra will go to polls on November 20, while Jharkhand will see Assembly elections in two phases on November 13 and 20, in electoral battles that will once again see the BJP and the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc locking horns for supremacy.

The counting of votes will be held on November 23. While voting for 288 seats in Maharashtra will be finished in a single day, voters in Jharkhand will exercise their franchise to choose 81 MLAs in two days.

Bypolls for 47 Assembly seats and one Parliamentary constituency – Wayanad – will also be held on November 13 and 20. Bypolls for one each Assembly (Uttarakhand) and Parliament (Maharashtra) seats will be held on November 20.

The BJP is heading to the polls with bigger confidence after snatching victory in Haryana where pollsters predicted a decisive Congress win, while the Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) combine ‘Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA)’ and I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Jharkhand are hoping to shrug off Congress’ demoralising defeat in the north Indian state.

The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP ‘Mahayuti’ government led by Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra is hoping to overcome anti-incumbency, though it is battered by differences among the allies on a variety of issues and perception problem over breaking Uddhav Thackeray’s and Pawar’s parties.

The MVA or the Maharashtra version of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is riding high on its performance in Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP-led alliance witnessed a meltdown. The 2019 elections had seen high drama with BJP initially forming a government with the help of Ajit Pawar, which was short-lived, and Shiv Sena ditching the BJP to join Congress and NCP camp.

In Jharkhand, the JMM-led I.N.D.I.A. bloc is hoping to return to power even as the BJP has made early moves in the state striking a seat deal with NDA allies. The BJP is hoping to ride on a high-octane Hindutva pitch, raising the bogey of Bangladeshi infiltration and a National Registry of Citizens.