“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,” said CEC Rajiv Kumar when asked why assembly elections for Maharashtra was not announced with Haryana like it was done 5 years ago.
In 2019, the Election Commission had announced elections to the legislative assemblies of Maharashtra and Haryana in September. Voting in the two states was held on October 21 and the votes were counted on October 24. Jharkhand had voted in November 2019 to elect a new assembly.
In his 11th straight Independence Day address on Thursday, PM Modi had pushed forcefully for ‘one nation one election‘. “Frequent elections in the country are hindering the nation’s progress. Today, connecting every scheme to elections has become a habit because elections are held every few months in the country. The media often portrays that all these schemes are announced because of the elections,” the Prime Minister said in his speech.
Highlighting the impact of the constant cycle of elections on developmental work, the Prime Minister said, “Every developmental work is affected due to these frequent elections, and that is why, extensive discussion was held with all the political parties in the country.”
The concept of ‘One Nation, One Election’ entails the simultaneous conduct of Lok Sabha and all Assembly elections once every five years.
The opposition parties were quick to question the idea of “one nation, one election” pointing out that the Election Commission was not in a position to even conduct 4 elections together. Congress leader Pawan Khera said “Only yesterday PM Modi spoke of “one nation, one election”, Now what happened? They are doing elections only in two states. They can’t manage even 4 states.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray took pot shots at the poll body for keeping Maharashtra out and claimed that EC was giving breathing time to the BJP-led government in the state.
“For all that talk of “one nation, one election”, the Entirely Compromised Commission (aka Election commission) states “constraint on security forces” as a reason to not hold elections in Maharashtra, with simultaneous elections in J&K. What then has changed under the “strong leadership of the bjp” in J&K? Terrors attacks are on the rise, which is a fact,” Aditya Thackeray wrote on X.
The junior Thackeray claimed that the Election Commission had burst the propaganda of the Union government on normalcy in J&K.
“Another reason they give is the “rains” in Maharashtra and therefore they haven’t completed their formalities. Only Maharashtra has monsoons, not other states, as per the election commission. What a shame this once famed institution is turning out to be! I guess their boss isn’t yet giving them permission to hold elections in Maharashtra,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader added.
The Election Commission on Friday announced that Haryana will vote in one phase on October 1, while Jammu & Kashmir will have three-phase elections on September 19, September 25 and October 1. The counting of votes for both the states will be held on October 4.