Election Commission announces dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls

Maharashtra with a massive 288 seats will go to polls in one phase on November 20.

Jharkhand, the eastern state of India, will head to polls in two phases on November 13 and 20.

The results will be declared on November 23.

The two assembly elections have been scheduled more than a month after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in Haryana for the third consecutive term, dashing hope for the spirited Congress to make a comeback.

In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar's faction) and Congress will aim to repeat its 2024 Lok Sabha election results where the coalition trumped the ruling alliance comprising Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), NCP (Ajit Pawar's faction) and BJP.

In 2019, the BJP and undivided Shiv Sena won 161 out of 288 seats. But after the results were declared, the two parties parted ways after then Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray demanded Chief Minister's post for half of the full term.

The Shiv Sena joined the NCP and Congress to form the government eventually.

The newly-formed alliance lasted till 2023 when a faction of Shiv Sena led by now Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and a part of NCP turned rebel and joined the BJP to form the government.

In Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress alliance won the 2019 assembly elections bagging 47 out of 82 seats.