Maharashtra Elections 2024: Maharashtra to vote on Nov 20, result on Nov 23, announces EC

The Maharashtra Assembly Election dates were announced by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday.

Assembly elections in Maharashtra will take place on November 20 in a single phase and the results will be declared on November 23, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.

“In Maharashtra, the notification will be issued on October 22. The last date of filing nominations is October 29. Polling will be held on November 20 while counting will take place on November 23,” Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said while addressing a press conference.

Schedule for General Election to Legislative Assembly of #Maharashtra,2024 to be held in a single phase.Details in images#MaharashtraAssemblyElections2024 #ECI #Schedule pic.twitter.com/XF4FXebtJR
Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) October 15, 2024

The elections in Maharashtra where the term of the assembly ends on November 26 come as part of the second set of states to go to polls after the Lok Sabha elections after Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. With the announcements, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect in the state.

With 288 Assembly seats, Maharashtra will see a peculiar contest between the ruling BJP–Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde)-NCP (Ajit Pawar) combine and the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharad pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance as the Mahayuti fights to retain power for a second term in the state.

The political situation has changed drastically in the state since the conduct of the Assembly elections in 2019 which the undivided Shiv Sena contested jointly with the BJP. The alliance, which won a comfortable majority, eventually fell over a dispute over chief ministership. The Shiv Sena went on to join hands with the Congress and NCP to form a government under the banner of the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

In mid-2022, the Shiv Sena saw a split leading to the fall of the MVA government and the formation of the Mahayuti with the help of Eknath Shinde and his faction of Shiv Sena MLAs. The NCP followed suit a year later with a similar split as a major chunk of MLAs walked out with Ajit Pawar and joined the NDA government.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 105 seats followed by the Shiv Sena at 56. the NCP bagged 54 seats, the Congress 44, the AIMIM 2 and the MNS 1.