The dates of the general elections have been announced. The grand festival of democracy will begin on April 19 and end with a seventh phase on June 1, with the counting of votes on June 4. The state of Maharashtra, which has been making headlines for the past 18 months because of the persistent political churning, will have voting in five phases.
The opposition, however, has raised questions about the length of the exercise. Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) state president Jayant Patil told News18, “The entire general election should happen in a maximum of four phases. In the state of Maharashtra, the voting will happen in five phases. Have seven phases of the election been planned to benefit someone?”
In 2019, the state had voted in four phases, but this time one more round has been added. When asked about this, state chief electoral officer S Chockalingam said, “Deciding the phases of voting is the call of the Election Commission.”
Sources in the state election commission said that while deciding the number of phases, the poll panel considers factors like geography, movement of the central forces (as per requirement), and number of constituencies. Maharashtra has the second highest number of Lok Sabha seats (48) after Uttar Pradesh (80).
The five districts of Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara Gondia, Gadchiroli Chimur, and Chandrapur in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region will see voting in the first phase on April 19.
The second phase on April 26 will have voting in the remaining districts from Vidarbha, like Buldana, Akola, Amaravati, Wardha, and Yavatmal, aside from a few districts of Marathwada region like Washim, Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani.
The third phase on May 7, will witness polling in the remaining districts of the Marathwada region like Dharashiv and Latur apart from Konkan region seats such as Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, and Raigad. Voting in western Maharashtra has also been planned in this phase, including in Baramati, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, and Hatkangale.
In the fourth phase on May 13, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Sambhaji Nagar, Pune, Shirke, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, and Beed will go for polling.
The final round, which is the fifth phase of the general elections, will happen on May 20, with voting in 13 districts, including the six seats of Mumbai city, Thane, Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Palghar, Nasik, Dindori, and Dhule.
The general elections this time in Maharashtra will be unique as the original Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party have both been split, with one faction from each tying up with the BJP. The Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) are in an alliance with the Congress in the form of the Maha Vikas Aghadi. While BJP ally and chief minister Eknath Shinde has the Shiv Sena name and symbol, the same is the case with deputy CM Ajit Pawar and the NCP, which may play a crucial role in the polls.