Maharashtra all set to vote today; Jharkhand's election battle heads to second round

New Delhi: Voting for all the 288 seats in Maharashtra and the second phase of 38 seats in Jharkhand will be held on Wednesday in which the BJP and the I.N.D.I.A bloc parties are heading for close contest.

Bypolls to 15 Assembly seats and Nanded Lok Sabha constituency would also be held on Wednesday. 

The counting of votes for Maharashtra, Jharkhand and bypolls to 46 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats will be held on November 23.

The first phase of  Jharkhand Assembly polls, in which 43 seats went to voting, and bypolls to 31 Assembly seats and Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency were held on November 13. Two seats in Sikkim Assembly were uncontested as there was only a single candidate in each constituency.

In Maharashtra, the elections are crucial for both the ‘Mahayuti’ consisting of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP and ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ or MVA comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).  The Mahayuti seeks to retain power while MVA is hoping to avenge the fall of their government.

The JMM-led I.N.D.I.A bloc in Jharkhand is also hoping to return to power but the BJP is banking on a high-octane Hindutva campaign to oust them.

Among the bypolls, the nine seats in Uttar Pradesh are keenly fought between Samajwadi Party and BJP along with RLD. With Akali Dal keeping away from polls, Congress is trying to keep its supremacy in three of the four seats it won last time.

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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