Voting for the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand will be completed on Wednesday. In Maharashtra, voting is being held in one phase for 288 seats, while in Jharkhand it is being held in two phases. In Maharashtra, the main contest is between Mahayuti and MVA. Exit polls will be released this evening, which are only estimates. The election results will be declared on November 23.
Today (Wednesday) the fate of the candidates in Maharashtra and Jharkhand will be sealed in EVM. While in Maharashtra people are exercising their franchise in all 288 seats in one phase, in Jharkhand voting was held in two phases. Here the voting for the first phase was held on 13 November. Voting for the second phase is being held today along with Maharashtra.
Apart from this, votes are being cast for by-elections in 9 assembly seats of UP and Kedarnath assembly seat of Uttarakhand. Voting has also been done for the by-election in Kerala’s high profile parliamentary seat Wayanad. After the voting, the results will be awaited, which will come on 23 November. But before that, i.e. today evening, the exit poll will come, in which different news channels will tell who is winning where. The exit poll figures will not be final, they are just estimates.
Competition between Mahayuti and MVA in Maharashtra
In Maharashtra, while the Mahayuti is trying to retain power, the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is hoping for a strong comeback. In the Mahayuti, BJP is contesting on 149 seats, Shiv Sena on 81 seats and Ajit Pawar-led NCP has fielded candidates in 59 constituencies.
In the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Congress has fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena (UBT) 95 and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) 86 candidates. Smaller parties including Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) are also contesting the elections, BSP has fielded 237 and AIMIM 17 candidates.
During the election campaign, Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, several Union Ministers, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi etc. visited the state to garner votes for their respective candidates. The Mahayuti includes BJP, Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The ruling alliance is hoping to retain power through its popular schemes for women like Majhi Ladki Behan.
Will the tradition continue in Jharkhand or will Soren create history?
There is a tough competition between the ruling All India Alliance and NDA in Jharkhand. The JMM-led alliance is trying to retain power on the basis of its welfare schemes, while the BJP has entered the electoral fray by raising the issues of Hindutva, infiltration from Bangladesh and corruption of the current government.
There are 81 assembly seats in the state. Voting for the first phase was held here on November 13 and the second phase on November 20. If Soren returns to power, he will create history. If he loses, the tradition that has been going on for 24 years will continue in Jharkhand.