Assembly Elections Dates Highlights: J&K Polls In 3 Phases From Sept 18, Haryana To Vote On Oct 1; Counting On Oct 4

Hello, readers! Welcome to Outlook India's live coverage of the Election Commission of India's announcement of the Assembly Elections schedule.

The poll governing body is set to announce the schedule at a press conference at 3 pm today. Follow our live blog for real-time updates on the assembly polls schedule.

Assembly elections are due in Haryana, Maharashtra and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, where the Supreme Court's deadline for conducting polls ends on September 30.

Ahead of the announcement of the election schedule, a massive reshuffle has taken place in the Jammu and Kashmir Police, wherein the intelligence wing has also gotten a new chief.

IGPs, DIGs are among the several senior J&K police officers who have been transferred. Many districts of the Union Territory have gotten new police chiefs

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, ahead of the election schedule announcement, said that the assembly polls in Maharashtra "will be a fight to protect the self-respect of the state".

He made the comments at a meeting of the opposition alliance of the state -- Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

At the Maha Vikas Aghadi meeting, Uddhav Thackeray said that he will back any candidate announced by the Congress and the NCP(SP) as MVA's Chief Ministerial face.

He asked MVA cadres to rise above self-interest for the sake of protecting Maharashtra's pride and respect. "Be the ambassadors of opposition alliance in Maharashtra," he told the cadres.

Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, Uddhav Thackeray cited the "secular civil code" reference and asked whether the PM "has given up Hindutva".

Sharpening his attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party, Thackeray asked, "Why was the Waqf (Amendment) Bill not passed when you were in absolute majority?"

As we wait for the Election Commission to announce the schedule for Assembly elections, let's take a brief look back at the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

In the high-stakes battle for power at the Centre, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured its victory to return to power for a third consecutive term with 292 seats, falling short of its target of 400 seats.

Meanwhile, the INDIA bloc saw an uptick in its number of seats as the opposition grouping managed to bag 234 seats, with the Congress alone winning 99 seats -- a major jump for the grand old party from its previous tally of 52 seats.

The last assembly elections in Haryana were held in 2019, where the BJP, the Congress and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) were in the fray.

Other political parties who contested the 2019 assembly polls include Indian Natioanl Lok Dal (INLD), Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and a few other Independent candidates.

The results of the polls turned out in favour of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP unit, which won 40 of the 90 seats, while Congress won 21 seats and the JJP bagged 10 seats.

However, since an absolute majority of 46 seats was needed to form the government, the BJP and JJP formed an alliance to take charge of the administration.

In the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, the NDA -- BJP and Shiv Sena -- secured a major victory, leading to the formation of a coalition government as they fell short of a clear majority.

However, due to disagreements over several matters, including the CM post, the alliance was dissolved in November 2019.

For a brief period, Devendra Fadnavis held the CM post while Ajit Pawar was his deputy. But both of them resigned before a floor test.

This resulted in the formation of a MVA government -- Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress -- wherein Uddhav Thackeray became the Chief Minister. But this also couldn't last as MLAs led by Eknath Shinde partnered up with the BJP in June 22, leading to Shinde taking charge as the CM and Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.

As the Election Commission is set to announce the assembly elections schedule today, let's understand what happened in Jammu and Kashmir, where an assembly poll has not been held since 2014.

The elected government in J&K was dissolved in 2018 and several regional parties have been urging poll body to conduct elections at the earliest.

The region has been split into two Union Territories since 2019 -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut told reporters, "MVA has organised a very big rally today... MVA wants to contest the Vidhan Sabha elections together. The three parties, Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP (SCP) have no difference of opinion either in seat sharing, manifesto, or any other functioning."

"The rally has been organised at 3 pm which will be addressed by Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Nana Patole among other Congress leaders," Raut added.

Ahead of the EC's schedule announcement of the assembly elections, BJP leader and former Haryana Minister Anil Vij said, "We are ready for the elections. If the announcement of elections is done today, the nomination process will start from tomorrow...BJP workers are ready for the elections."

"No party with the name of Congress exists in Haryana...There are several factions, goons within Congress party who come together during the elections to loot Haryana...Election Commission of India should de-recognise Congress as a political party as it has no democracy," Vij told news agency ANI.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday claimed many BJP MLAs will join his party before the state assembly elections.

Patole was talking to reporters after the induction of former BJP MP Shishupal Patle into the party.

The Congress leader alleged there is a lot of resentment among the allies of the Mahayuti comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party headed by Ajit Pawar.

"Many leaders of the BJP and its allies will join the Congress in the coming days," Patole said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Jammu and Kashmir unit has constituted an election committee for the upcoming assembly elections in the Union Territory.

The move comes ahead of the schedule announcement by the Election Commission of India.

The committee consists of Ravinder Raina, party's State President, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Member of Parliament, Jugal Kishore Sharma MP, Ghulam Ali Khatana, MP Rajya Sabha, Ashok Koul, General Secretary (organisation), Dr. Nirmal Singh, former Deputy Chief Minister, Kavinder Gupta, former Deputy Chief Minister, Sunil Sharma, General Secretary, Adv. Vibodh Gupta, General Secretary, Dr. Devinder Kumar Manyal, General Secretary, Dr. Darakshan Andrabi, Devinder Singh Rana, former MLA, Ajay Bharti, former MLC and Sanjita Dogra, President Mahila Morcha.

The party said that the committee has G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister, Tarun Chugh, National General Secretary & Prabhari J&K, Ashish Sood, Seh-Prabhari J&K and Dr. Narinder Singh, National Secretary as Special Invitees.

The Election Commission of India will be announcing the schedule for the assembly elections shortly.

The Election Commission's press conference has begun, with the poll body set to shortly announce the schedule for the assembly elections.

Chief Election Commission Rajiv Kumar said, "2024 Lok Sabha polls were the biggest election process at the world level. It was completed successfully and peacefully. It created a very strongly democratic surface for the entire democratic world, it was peaceful without any violence and the whole country celebrated the festival of elections. We also made many records. For the first time, maximum polling took place in the world."

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has a total of 90 seats, of which 74 are general seats, 9 are for Scheduled Tribes and 7 for Scheduled Castes.

"There will be a total of 87.09 lakh voters in Jammu and Kashmir, of which 44.46 lakh are males, 42.62 lakh are females, 3.71 lakh are first-time voters and 20.7 lakh are young voters," CEC Rajiv Kumar said.

He noted that the Amarnath Yatra will be coming to an end on August 19 and said that the electoral roll for J&K will be published on August 20.

The Election Commission of India said that there are a total of 11,838 polling stations in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

CEC Rajiv Kumar, during the press conference, mentioned the changed election scenario in Jammu and Kashmir. He listed this scenarios as:

• Action over apathy

• Belief over cynicism

• Thriving political participation

• Intense campaigning

• Security concerns

The Election Commission shared its expectant layers of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir.

There are a total of 90 assembly seats in Haryana, of which 73 are general seats and 17 are for Scheduled Castes. There are no seats for ST in the state.

"There will be a total of 2.01 crore voters in Haryana, of which 1.06 crore are males, 0.95 crore are females, 4.52 lakhs are first-time voters and 40.95 lakhs are young voters," CEC Rajiv Kumar said.

Electoral roll for Haryana will be published on August 27.

There are as many as 20,629 polling stations in Haryana. Here's a detailed breakdown of the polling stations in the state:

Technology now plays a key and convenient role in the assembly elections. 'Suvidha Portal' will enable candidates to navigate through the many procedures.

• J&K Assembly Elections Phase 1 Date - 18 September, 2024 (Wednesday)

• J&K Assembly Elections Phase 2 Date - 25 September, 2024

• J&K Assembly Elections Phase 3 Date - 1 October, 2024

• Counting & Results Date - October 4, 2024

• Election Wrap Up In J&K - October 6, 2024

The Election Commission on Friday announced the schedule for the Assembly Elections in Haryana.

• Date of polling: October 1, 2024

• Counting and Result Date: October 4, 2024

• Wrap of Polls: October 6, 2024

Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, after the announcement of assembly election dates said, "Congress is ready and people of all sections have decided to bring Congress to power."

On being asked about the Maharashtra Assembly election dates, CEC Rajiv Kumar 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...The other factor is that there was heavy rainfall in Maharashtra and there are several festivals lined up too," he added.

CEC Rajiv Kumar said that there are 47 bypolls -- one Lok Sabha bypoll and 46 assembly bypolls -- are due. However due to adverse weather in several states, we are not holding bypolls.

"We will hold all of these together most likely well within 6 months," the CEC said.

CEC Rajiv Kumar said that the schedule for the Maharashtra assembly elections will be announced later as there is a larger security requirement for Jammu and Kashmir.

CEC Rajiv Kumar said that bypolls in Kerala's hilly district of Wayanad cannot be held right now due to the devastating landslides that hit the region recently.

He, however, said that the polling will take place on time.

Reacting to the Election Commission of India’s announcement on the schedule for the assembly polls, which will be held in three phases, JKNC Vice President Omar Abdullah said:  “This is the first time after (19)87-88 that elections are going to be held in the state in such less time and phases. We preparing for the elections. I want to request the Election Commission to take stock of the transfer of officials in the past 24 hours in the state. This may help BJP and its B, C and D teams. ECI should issue a notice on this and transfers outside their guidelines should be stopped immediately.”

Senior CPI (M) leader M Y Tarigami welcomed the announcement of polls.

"It is welcome that after a long time the Election Commission has announced the schedule for elections to the assembly. We also welcome the statement of the EC that it will be a full democratic exercise by ensuring level playing field to all parties and contestants besides sufficient security for candidates and votes as well," Tarigami said.

BJP leader Anil Vij on Election Commission announcing dates for Haryana Assembly elections said: "The wait has finally ended, and the ECI has announced the dates for Haryana polls. The polling would be held on October 1. The weather remains suitable for elections at that time... Our party workers are always prepared for the elections.”