BJP seeks victory run as polling in Haryana, Maharashtra begins

Agencies

October 21, 2019

New Delhi: Polling for 90 seats of Haryana and 288 constituencies of Maharashtra has begun on Monday at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm in the evening.

The electoral fate of over 4400 candidates- 1169 in Haryana and 3237 in Maharashtra will be sealed in EVMs by the voters who will exercise their democratic franchise in the assembly elections.

In Haryana, 19,578 polling stations have been set up whereas there are 96,661 polling booths in Maharashtra for citizens to cast their votes.

In Haryana, 2,987 polling booths have been marked as vulnerable whereas 151 critical polling stations have been identified, the live footage of which would be monitored in the control room set up at the headquarters in Chandigarh.

More than 40,000 Haryana Police personnel, over 13,000 paramilitary personnel and more than 20,000 Home Guards and Special Police Officers have been deployed for conducting the elections in the state.

The assembly election in Haryana will witness a multi-cornered contest among BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).

For Maharashtra Assembly elections, 40,000 police personnel will be deployed in Mumbai and drones will be used for surveillance as part of security arrangements, Mumbai Police had earlier said.

Maharashtra police will also maintain strict vigil throughout the state with its personnel deployed for election duties in all districts along with home guards, companies of CAPF and CRPF for the polling day.

BJP is contesting 150 seats in 288-member Maharashtra Assembly while its ally Shiv Sena has fielded 124 candidates. The remaining seats have been left for smaller allies.

Congress is contesting the polls in alliance with Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.

Campaigning in Maharashtra and Haryana for the Assembly elections, 2019 concluded on Saturday. The Model Code of Conduct had come into force on September 21 after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced Assembly election dates.

During the campaign period, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi were among national leaders who campaigned in the two states. NCP chief Sharad Pawar campaigned extensively in Maharashtra.

The elections are significant as it is the first assembly polls after Modi steered the BJP-led NDA to a resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year for a successive second term at the Centre.

It is also the first assembly polls after the BJP-led government's decision to repeal Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

BJP is in power on its own in Haryana and in alliance with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Over 58 lakh names dropped from draft voter list in Bengal ahead of polls

News Network

December 16,2025

The deletion of over 58 lakh names from West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has sparked widespread concern and is likely to deepen political tensions in the poll-bound state.

According to the Election Commission, the revision exercise has identified 24 lakh voters as deceased, 19 lakh as relocated, 12 lakh as missing, and 1.3 lakh as duplicate entries. The draft list, published after the completion of the first phase of SIR, aims to remove errors and duplication from the electoral rolls.

However, the scale of deletions has raised fears that a large number of eligible voters may have been wrongly excluded. The Election Commission has said that individuals whose names are missing can file objections and seek corrections. The final voter list is scheduled to be published in February next year, after which the Assembly election announcement is expected. Notably, the last Special Intensive Revision in Bengal was conducted in 2002.

The development has intensified the political row over the SIR process. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have strongly opposed the exercise, accusing the Centre and the Election Commission of attempting to disenfranchise lakhs of voters ahead of the elections.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar earlier this month, Banerjee urged people to protest if their names were removed from the voter list, alleging intimidation during elections and warning of serious consequences if voting rights were taken away.

The BJP, meanwhile, has defended the revision and accused the Trinamool Congress of politicising the issue to protect what it claims is an illegal voter base. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the ruling party fears losing power due to the removal of deceased, fake, and illegal voters.

The controversy comes amid earlier allegations by the Trinamool Congress that excessive work pressure during the SIR led to the deaths by suicide of some Booth Level Officers (BLOs), for which the party blamed the Election Commission. With the draft list now out, another round of political confrontation appears imminent.

As objections begin to be filed, the focus will be on whether the correction mechanism is accessible, transparent, and timely—critical factors in ensuring that no eligible voter is denied their democratic right ahead of a crucial election.

Comments