LIVE: Election Commission Announces Haryana, Maharashtra Poll Dates, Check Schedule Here

The Election Commission on Saturday addressed media and announced the dates of Haryana, Maharashtra Assembly Polls. The Model Code of Conduct will come into force after the announcement of the poll dates. Back in 2014, the Election Commission had announced the dates for both Maharashtra and Haryana on September 12. The voting had taken place on October 15 and results were out by October 19.

LIVE UPDATES: 

12.40 pm: DATES for Legislative Elections in Haryana and Maharashtra

Date of notification: 27 September

Last date of Nominations: 4 October

Scrutiny of Nominations: 5 October

Withdrawal of Nominations: 7 October

DATE OF POLLS: 21 October

COUNTING OF VOTES: 24 October

12.31 pm: Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora: Haryana & Maharashtra Assembly elections to be held on 21st October, counting on 24th October.

12.24 pm: The biggest social media entities have come up with a Voluntary Code of Ethics, and have submitted it to the Election Commission: Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner in a media briefing.

12.22 pm: Election Commission assures all stakeholders of the quality of EVMs in Haryana and Maharshtra assembly polls.

12.20 pm: All voters in Haryana have voter ID cards: CEC Sunil Arora.

12.18 pm: Special security arrangements will be made for LWE affected areas in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli and Gondia: CEC Sunil Arora.

12.16 pm: "Model Code of Conduct real tribute to democracy": Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.

12.14 pm: For Maharashtra, Commission has decided to send two expenditure observers: CEC.

12.12 pm: Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora: 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.

12.10 pm: Since it's just been 6 months since the Lok Sabha elections were held, we found that both states are prepared: CEC Sunil Arora.

12.08 pm: The ECI has visited both Maharashtra & Haryana to facilitate voting for people with disabilities: Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner in a media briefing.

12.06 pm: Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora: Haryana has 1.82 crore registered voters and Maharashtra has 8.94 crore voters.

12.05 pm: Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora: The 5-year term of the Legislative Assemblies of Haryana and Maharashtra expires on 2nd November and 9th November.

12.00 pm: Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora addresses media.

Also Read: Haryana: INLD’s Former Vice-President Ashok Arora, Other Leaders Join Congress

At present, all three states going to polls are ruled by the BJP. The term of the Haryana Legislative Assembly ends on November 2, whereas the term of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly expires on November 9. The Jharkhand Legislative Assembly’s tenure is slated to end on December 27. The poll panel is likely to release the poll results before Diwali that will be celebrated on October 27. In 2014, the Election Commission had announced five-phase elections between November 25 and December 20 in Jharkhand. Results were declared on December 23.

The Manohar Lal Khattar government is aiming to increase it tally from 47 to 75 in the 90-member Haryana State Assembly. Whereas in Maharashtra, the Devendra Fadnavis government is eying to go beyond 2014 tally of 200. In alliance with the Shiv Sena, the BJP will aim for better verdict in the 288-member Maharashtra State Assembly.

Also Read: Jannayak Janata Party Releases First List Of Candidates For Haryana Assembly Polls

In 2014, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtra for the first time and won 122 seats in the 288-member strong Assembly. The party received 1,47,09,276 votes, i.e. 27.8 per cent of the votes. The Shiv Sena, who contested the elections alone, came second with just 63 seats and a share of 19.4 per cent votes. The Sena received 1,02,35,970 votes. The Congress and the NCP also contested the polls separately and won 42 and 41 seats respectively. Congress was able to garner only 18 per cent of the votes (94,96,095 votes) in the entire state, whereas the NCP was restricted to just 17.2 per cent of votes (91,22,285 votes). The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) won only a single seat and received just 3.15 per cent of votes.