The Election Commission is likely to announce the poll schedule for the Jharkhand Assembly on Friday (1 November) at 4.30 pm. After Maharashtra and Haryana, it is the third state to go to polls since Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the Lok Sabha election with a thumping majority this year.
Election Commission of India to announce schedule for Jharkhand assembly elections today. pic.twitter.com/3Xb3HfqdHo
— ANI (@ANI) November 1, 2019
The term of the current 81-member Assembly ends on 5 January, 2020.
There was speculation that the poll body would announce schedule for the Delhi Assembly election along with that of the Jharkhand, but the EC only referred to the poll schedule for the eastern state.
File image of the Election Commission of India. News18
At present, the state is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in an alliance with the All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU) under the leadership of chief minister of Raghubar Das.
In 2014, the BJP rose to power after winning 37 seats, while its ally AJSU secured win in five. The combined tally was enough for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to cross the majority mark of 41 seats.
The BJP-AJSU coalition also swept the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha election winning 12 of of 14 parliamentary seats and reducing the Congress-JMM alliance to almost nothing.
The BJP is hoping to retain power in Jharkhand following setbacks and winning fewer seats in both the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly election than it did in the 2014 polls.
In Maharashtra, where the BJP is the single-largest party, it retained power in only 105 seats compared to the 122 it was defending. In Haryana, the BJP had to resort to a post-poll alliance with Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) – who was offered the post of deputy chief minister – in order to cross the majority mark in the 90-member Assembly. The saffron party, which had targeted winning 75 of the 90 constituencies, could add only 40 to its kitty. In 2014, however, it had won 47 seats.
With inputs from PTI
November 01, 2019 at 02:08PM
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