Haryana, Maharashtra will go to polls on Oct 21, counting on Oct 24

Haryana & Maharashtra  will elect new Assemblies on Oct 21 in a single phase & the votes will be calculated on Oct 24 in polls that will test the strength of parties including the ruling BJP after its huge success in the Lok Sabha elections in May & major changes made in Jammu & Kashmir last month.

The whole election process will be completed by Oct 27 on Diwali day as the term of the current Assemblies in Haryana & Maharashtra end on Nov 9 & Nov 2 respectively, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said giving the schedule for the elections.

Mr. Arora said most of the political parties in Maharashtra wanted the elections to be completed before Dhanteras that falls on Oct 25.

The Model Code of Conduct has come into effect with the notice of poll schedule.

Bye elections will be held to fill one Lok Sabha seat in Bihar & 64 Assembly constituencies in 17 states & Puducherry Union Territory including the seats held by disqualified MLAs in karnataka & 11 seats in UP.

Notification for the Assembly elections in the two states will be issued on September 27 & the last date for submissions will be Oct 4. Analysis of nominations will take place on Oct 5 & the last date for withdrawal is Oct 7.

For the bye-elections, the notifications will be issued on Sept 23, the last date of nominations is Sept 30. Analysis will take place on Oct 1 & the last date of withdrawal is Oct 3. The date pf elections & counting of votes in the bye-elections will be the same as that in Haryana & Maharashtra.

Maharashtra has a 288 member Assembly while the strength of the House in Haryana In Maharashtra, 29 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes & 25 for Scheduled Tribes. In Haryana, it is 17 Scheduled Castes. There is no Scheduled Tribes seat in Haryana.

There are 8,95,62,706 voters in Maharashtra this time, while Haryana has 1,82,98,714 registered voters. As per norms, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) immediately comes into force in both the states. 

In Haryana, 0.38 lakh balloting units, 0.25 lakh control units & 0.27 lakh VVPATs will be used, while in Maharashtra, 1.8 lakh BUs, 1.28 lakh CUs & 1.39 lakh VVPATs will be used.

In the 2014 polls in Maharashtra, BJP won 122 seats & Shiv Senagot 63 seats. The two parties fought individually while this election they are likely to contest together in an alliance. Congress & Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) could only manage 42 & 41 seats respectively.

In Haryana, the BJP had captured power for the first time in 2014 when it won 47 seats while the Congress was reduced to just 15 seats.

The Electoral photo identity cards (EPIC) coverage in final electoral rolls is 96.81 per cent for Maharashtra  & 100 per cent for Haryana.

In keeping with the Centre's push for eliminating single-use plastic, the Election Commission has also requested to political parties & candidates avoid using plastic, polythene & other materials in their campaign as an eco-friendly measure.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that considering the long-term deleterious impact of materials like plastics, polythene, etc. on the environment, the Commission has directed that all political parties, candidates & their agents,etc. shall desist from using them for preparing election-related publicity material.

He also said that on the demand of several political parties in Maharashtra, more than 5,000 polling booths, which were on the first or second floor level have been brought to the ground level.
Moreover, special security arrangements have been made for Left Wing Extremism affected areas in Gadchiroli & Gondia in Maharashtra.
As compared to 16,244 in 2014, there are 19,425 polling stations in Haryana, while Maharashtra has 95,473 polling stations this time as compared to 90,403 in 2014
Arora further shared that on demand of several political parties in Maharashtra, more
He stated that the expenditure limit for candidates in both the states will be Rs 28 lakh in each seat.
Assembly bye-elections are to be held in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Odisha, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Pudducherry & Himachal Pradesh on October 21.
Among the 64 Assembly constituencies, there are four in Assam, five in Bihar, four in Gujarat, two in Himachal Pradesh, 15 in Karnataka, five in Kerala, four in Punjab, two in Rajasthan, three in Sikkim, two in Tamil Nadu, 11 in Uttar Pradesh & one each in Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Pudducherry & Telangana.