Maharashtra State Election - Nominations, voting, counting schedule and all you need to know

The tenure of the present state government in the state of Maharashtra ends on November 9, 2019. At present, the state is ruled by the BJP – Shiv Sena coalition government that has a total number of 185 MLAs out of 288. As per the election commission’s announcement, the assembly elections in the state will be held in October 2019 and here is the full schedule of the election and the important highlights you need to know.

Event	Date
The election commission announces the dates of election	Saturday, September 21, 2019
Publishing of the official notification of the elections in the gazette	Friday, September 27, 2019
Last date to file the nominations for the contesting candidates	Friday, October 4, 2019
Scrutiny and approval of the nominations by the election commission	Saturday, October 5, 2019
Single phase polling for all the 288 assembly constituencies of Maharashtra	Monday, October 21, 2019
Counting of votes and declaration of results	Thursday, October 24, 2019

Maharashtra goes for polling for all its 288 assembly constituencies on October 21, 2019. The votes will be counted and results will be declared on October 24, 2019. By October 4, 2019, the candidates looking forward to contest must file their nominations.

Sunil Arora, the Chief Election Commissioner declared that during the counting of votes, random tallying of the EVMs will be carried out as it was done during the Lok Sabha elections 2019. Commenting on the suitability of the EVMs for the elections, the EC said "EVMs are safe, they cannot be tampered with. Candidates are free to come to near the strong rooms at a safe distance."

The election scene in Maharashtra sees Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Indian National Congress (INC) contesting in all the 288 constituencies.

In 2014 general elections, the NDA faced a sweeping victory in the Maharashtra assembly elections and the combined force of BJP and Shiv Sena was 185 MLAs (BJP 122 and Shiv Sena 62). Following the thumping victory, the two parties together formed the coalition government in the state making Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister of the state for the five year period.

Sharad Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said his party will contest in 125 seats in the upcoming elections for Maharashtra’s Vidhan Sabha.

During the recent elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won 41 out of 48 parliamentary seats from the state. Political experts say the same fortune can repeat for the parties this time during the assembly elections too.

Congress is fielding Ashok Chavan, the former chief minister from the Bhokar constituency. The chief of Maharashtra Congress party Vijay alias Balasaheb Thorat will face the elections from Sangamner. Amit, the son of former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh has been nominated from Latur City seat. Ex-Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti will face the competition from the Solapur City Central.

BJP and Shiv Sena have finalized their seat sharing agreement in Maharashtra. Shiv Sena will contest in 124 assembly seats and BJP will face the elections from 164 seats. Aaditya Thackeray, the son of Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray will contest from the Worli constituency.

See also:
How many Vidhan Sabha seats in Maharashtra
How many Vidhan Sabha seats in Haryana