‘Security, Rainfall, Festivals’; Reasons Why EC Cannot Hold Maharashtra Assembly Elections
‘Security, Rainfall, Festivals’; Reasons Why EC Cannot Hold Maharashtra Assembly Elections
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Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has 288 seats and the majority needed to form the government is 145 seats.
New Delhi: The high demand for security forces in Jammu and Kashmir is the primary reason for not holding assembly elections in Maharashtra. This was the reason cited by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Friday when the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced full schedule of assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking further on assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Chief Election Commissioner said, “Last time, Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections were held together. At that time, J-K was not a factor but this time there are 4 elections this year and 5th election immediately after this, which is to start with J-K, Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi. Depending on the requirement of forces, we have decided to conduct 2 elections together. We cannot announce another election in the middle of the Jammu and Kashmir elections,” Kumar said.
Apart from the paucity of security forces, he said that rainfall and the series of festivals in Maharashtra are the other key reasons for not holding elections in the state.
“There are other factors. Rainfall in Maharashtra and the spate of festivals in the state, including Ganesh Chaturthi, Pitrapaksh, Navratri, and Diwali, affect the election schedule. All that put together, we thought this is what we can handle, two elections at a time. And it is within six months of the term of the assembly ending,” he added.
The tenure of the Haryana state assembly ends on November 3 while that of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on 26 November.
The recently concluded Lok Sabha polls 2024 have given a boost to the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, with the Shiv Sena (UBT) winning seven seats, the Congress 13, and the NCP-SP one, taking the total tally of the alliance to 17.
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has 288 seats and the majority needed to form the government is 145 seats in the assembly of 288 MLAs.
(With ANI inputs)
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