Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar
Credit: PTI File Photo
Mumbai: The poll process in Maharashtra gathers momentum this week with the 26-28 September visit of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to Mumbai.
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly polls are expected after the Diwali around mid-November.
A team led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar would arrive on Thursday evening.
On Friday, they would meet representatives of political parties, followed by a meeting with Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam, State Police Nodal Officer (SPNO) and Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF), followed by a meeting with enforcement agencies.
This would be followed by a briefing and meeting with Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik and Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla and top IAS and IPS officers.
On Saturday, there would be a meeting with District Collectors and Superintendents of Police.
Earlier this month, Chockalingam held a review with District Collectors and Chief District Election Officers where various issues like Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the updated voters’ list, status of polling material and district-level poll management, especially the availability of staff and security arrangements for free and fair elections, were discussed.
After the Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana polls, Maharashtra and Jharkhand would go to polls together.
The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the biggest state to go to polls after the general elections.
In the Lok Sabha polls, Congress, which heads the opposition INDIA bloc, emerged as the number one party in Maharashtra dislodging the BJP from that recognition after the 2014 and 2019 polls.
In the 2019 Assembly polls, the BJP-Shiv Sena Maha Yuti, which contested the polls together against Congress-NCP Democratic Front, emerged victorious.
However, the BJP, refused to give the post of Chief Minister to the Shiv Sena after which Uddhav Thackeray with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Congress stitched together the
Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.
In June-July 2022, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis engineered a split in the Shiv Sena with Eknath Shinde rebelling against Thackeray resulting in collapse of the MVA government. A year later in June-July 2023, Ajit Pawar raised a banner of revolt against Sharad Pawar and joined the Maha Yuti.
Thackeray and Sharad Pawar lost the control of parties to Shinde and Ajit Pawar, respectively.
Both Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, who are former Chief Ministers, head the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) respectively.
As of now, both Maha Yuti and MVA are engaged in the respective seat-sharing negotiations, which are expected to be completed by Dussehra.