EC: Haryana, Maharashtra polls on Oct 21, counting on Oct 24

Assembly elections will take place on October 21 in Maharashtra and Haryana and the results will be announced on October 24, the Election Commission said today. These are the first state polls following this year's national election. The term of the assembly of Haryana expires on November 2 while Maharashtra's term ends on November 9. In Haryana there are 1.82 crore voters while Maharashtra has 8.9 crore voters.

Two special expenditure observers will be sent to Maharashtra to inspect candidates ' election spending, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora told reporters today. Besides he also announced the dates for by-elections of 64 constituencies across the country.

"I request the cooperation of all stakeholders in this democratic exercise," the Chief Election Commissioner said.

The BJP has already held a number of rallies in Haryana, facing a fragmented opposition. One of its major election problems is the National Citizens Register (NRC) exercise to filter out the state's illegal immigrants, similar to the one in Assam. After a string of losses in the last state as well as the national elections, Congress is working on regrouping and making a plan for a comeback.

In Maharashtra, for the 288-member assembly, the ruling BJP and its ally Shiv Sena have already kick-started their campaign and are in the process of coming up with the details of sharing seats. A Maha Jan Aadesh Yatra was carried out last month by BJP's Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to reach out to voters across Maharashtra. At the end of the roadshow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally on Thursday. IN 2014. the BJP won Maharashtra in the 288-member assembly with 122 seats, defeating the government of Congress.

However, the opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party appears to be facing an exodus of politicians switching to the BJP or Sena.

In Haryana, BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar made a big entry in 2014. This year's national election was also swept by the party in the midst of Congress infighting. Due to a family feud, the regional INLD is facing trouble.