The Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections will be held across two phases beginning November 13, the Election Commission said Tuesday. Jharkhand will vote in two phases – on November 13 and November 20, and Maharashtra will vote in one phase – on November 20.
Counting of votes for both states will take place on November 23, the poll panel said.
Dates were also announced for some Lok Sabha bypolls, including Kerala’s Wayanad seat. Rahul Gandhi has given up the seat because he also won the family bastion of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh.
2019 Maharashtra, Jharkhand Election Recap
In the 2019 Jharkhand election Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha – part of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance – won 47 of the state’s 82 seats.
In Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the (then undivided) Shiv Sena dominated, winning 161 of 288 seats. However, the alliance broke down over sharing of power and the Sena joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress to form the government.
That government, however, lasted only till 2023; rebellions by the Sena’s Eknath Shinde – now the Chief Minister – and the NCP’s Ajit Pawar – now Mr Shinde’s deputy – forced then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to resign and his coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi government to fall.
2024 Maharashtra Assembly Election
Looking ahead, the BJP – in power in Maharashtra now with the Sena and NCP factions that broke away from Thackeray and Sharad Pawar – will look to finish 2024 on a high after a historic April-June general election that saw Narendra Modi become a three-time Prime Minister.
Mr Shinde will bank on his flagship scheme – Ladki Bahin Yojana, which sees poor women get a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 – to sway voters after his alliance’s poor show in the Lok Sabha election.
The ruling alliance – dubbed Mahayuti – won just 17 of the 48 parliamentary seats.
The Rs 46,000-crore a year welfare scheme has been hailed as a ‘game-changer’, quite like the Ladli Behna Yogna of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan helped the BJP retain that state last year despite, again, anti-incumbency and widespread expectations of a Congress victory.
For the Congress, the Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls are critical after the Haryana defeat – in an election it was widely expected to win – and the slump in J&K, in which support for the NC from four independents means the Kashmiri party doesn’t actually need Congress support.
The NC was later also backed by the lone Aam Aadmi Party MP in the former state.
READ | AAP, Snubbed By Congress In Haryana, Backs NC In J&K
Last week the Congress was leading as votes were counted in Haryana, but soon slipped behind and lost to the BJP. The party later said it could not accept the result, complaining (again) of malfunctioning EVMs, or electronic voting machines, and the EC’s “unexpected slowdown”.
READ | “Can’t Accept Verdict”: Congress Raises Doubts Over Haryana Loss
After the Haryana loss the Congress was slammed by its Maharashtra ally – Thackeray’s Sena faction.
In an editorial in the party mouthpiece, it was flayed for failing to accommodate alliance partners or control “disobedience of local leaders”. The reference was to Haryana Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda, whose reported reluctance to ally with the state unit of the AAP, and share campaign space with fellow chief ministerial aspirant Kumari Selja, have been red flagged as possible reasons for the defeat.
READ | “Must Assess Why Congress Lost”: Kumari Selja’s Swipe At Hooda
The Thackeray Sena has faction insisted the Haryana defeat would not affect its relationship with the Congress’ state unit, but Sanjay Raut, other Sena (UBT) leaders, and those from other opposition parties have all urged the larger party to re-think its stance on seat-sharing.
READ | “Arrogant, Overconfident”: Allies Twist Knife After Congress’ Haryana Loss
“This attitude leads to electoral losses – ‘if we feel we’re winning, we will not accommodate regional party but, in states where we’re down, regional parties must accommodate us…” Trinamool MP Saket Gokhale posted on X.
2024 Jharkhand Assembly Election
Meanwhile, in Jharkhand much of the poll rhetoric is likely to focus on the money laundering allegations surrounding Chief Minister Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31.
He secured bail in June after the Supreme Court said Mr Soren was not, prima facie, guilty.
READ | “No Direct Involvement…”: Hemant Soren Gets Bail In Land Scam Case
Mr Soren has repeatedly denied charges against him, and has accused the ruling BJP of framing his arrest – weeks before the Lok Sabha poll – to derail the opposition.
The JMM leader had resigned in dramatic circumstances before his arrest and installed aide Champai Soren in his place. After bail Hemant Soren resumed his position. Champai Soren quit to join the BJP.
Final Elections Of 2024
These are the final round of state polls for the year.
The Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections results were announced last week.
In Haryana the BJP fought back to defeat the Congress and retain the heartland state, while the first Assembly election in J&K in a decade was won by the National Conference-Congress alliance, although the latter’s contribution to that victory have been questioned by many, including its allies.
The BJP also won the Odisha election to form its first ever government in the state.
The saffron party also saw N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party – which provided critical support after the Lok Sabha election – defeat Jagan Reddy’s YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh.
The Haryana and, to an extent, the J&K election results have also put the focus on the Congress’ leadership of the INDIA opposition bloc, which contested the Lok Sabha election and managed to hold the BJP to just 240 seats – 32 below the majority mark – forcing it to rely on its allies.
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