ECI announces schedule for assembly polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced the schedule for the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
In Maharashtra, the voting will be held in a single phase on November 20.
The counting of votes will be taken up on November 23.
The Jharkhand Assembly election will be held in two phases on November 13 and November 20 and results will be announced on November 23.
Maharashtra is set to elect representatives for 288 assembly seats, which include 234 general seats, 25 reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 29 for Scheduled Castes (SC).
As per the ECI, there are 9.63 crore voters in Maharashtra, out of which 4.96 crore are male voters and 4.66 crore female voters. Out of the total voters, 1.85 crore are young and nearly 21 lakh are the first-time voters.
The tribal state Jharkhand has around 2.6 crore voters, of which 1.29 crore are female and 1.31 crore are male. The state has approximately 66.84 lakh young voters and around 11.84 lakh first-time voters.
Speaking at a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said India is setting gold standards in every election.
He announced that Maharashtra will have 1,86,000 polling stations, while in Jharkhand it will be 29,000 polling stations.
The term of Maharashtra Assembly will end on November 26. The state is currently ruled by the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP,) Shiv Sena-Eknath Shinde and NCP-Ajit Pawar are part of the ruling alliance in Maharashtra.
In Jharkhand, the term of the Assembly will end on January 5, 2025. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)- Congress alliance is in power in the state with Hemant Soren as the Chief Minister. Jharkhand has 81 seats. In 2019, assembly election in Jharkhand was held in five phases, while Maharashtra completed polling in a single phase.