Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana on 21st October

The Election Commission of India (ECI) today announced dates of assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana. The assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana will be held on 21st October, counting will be done on 24th October.

While the term of 288-member Maharashtra assembly ends on November 9,that of the 90 member Haryana assembly will go off-duty on November 2.

"Haryana has 1.82 crore registered voters and Maharashtra has 8.94 crore voters" said Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora.

Chief Election Commissioner also appealed to the political parties to avoid use of plastic in campaigns, he said, "Election campaigns impose an environmental cost upon us. We appeal to political parties to avoid use of plastic and use only environment-friendly material in their campaigns."

With the announcement of polls dates, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force in both states.

On the other hand, in Maharashtra, the BJP and Shiv Sena contested 2014 state Assembly elections separately after they failed to arrive at a seat-sharing formula.

However, they formed the government in alliance after the elections as none of the parties was able to secure a majority on its own.