Maharashtra polls: Chief Election Commissioner to visit state from September 26-28

Rajiv Kumar. File pic

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar will visit the state on September 26 and 28 ahead of the Maharashtra polls. He will meet political parties, administration, and law and order agencies during his visit to the state.

There are indications that Maharashtra polls will be held along with elections in Jharkhand. Election Commission officials are slated to visit Jharkhand on September 23 and 24, news agency PTI reported.

The Chief Election Commissioner's visit to the two states will be to take a stock of their poll preparedness, PTI stated quoting sources.

In 2019, Maharashtra and Haryana went to the polls together. This time, however, the poll panel decided to decouple the elections in the two states.

The assembly polls in Jharkhand were held separately last time. This time, the sources indicated that they could be announced alongside Maharashtra polls.

The Maharashtra Assembly's term ends on November 26 while that of Jharkhand concludes on January 5.

Elections in Jammu and Kashmir are already underway while Haryana goes to the polls on October 5. The assembly elections in Delhi are due in February.

Last month, while announcing the schedule for Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections, ECI said that it needed more time to get ready in monsoon-hit Maharashtra. Jammu and Kashmir will go to the polls in three phases. The first phase concluded on Wednesday, September 18, while the next phase is on September 25 and the third phase on October 1. Haryana's voting is scheduled for October 1. Results of both the elections will be declared on October 4. As compared to the 2019 programme, Haryana's schedule has been advanced by 20 days. Both Haryana and Maharashtra held polling on October 21 five years ago.

Kumar had said that four elections were due this year and by early next year, and as Jammu and Kashmir was not in the picture last time (2019-20), the commission decided to group two Assembly elections together. Besides Jammu-Kashmir and Haryana, elections are due in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi. According to Kumar, the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, which were held together with Haryana in 2019, would be announced later due to security requirements for Jammu and Kashmir.

(With PTI inputs)