Maharashtra polls on Nov 20, Jharkhand on Nov 13, Nov 20; results Nov 23: EC

The EC also announced bypolls to 48 Assembly constituencies and two Parliamentary constituencies – Wayanad (Kerala) and Nanded (Maharashtra). While bypolls for 47 Assembly seats and Wayanad Lok Sabha seat will be held on November 13, the bypolls for Kedarnath Assembly seat in Uttarakhand and Nanded Lok Sabha seat will be held on November 20.

Bypolls for Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal and Milkipur Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh, which are also due, were not announced as election petitions related to these two seats are pending in courts, the EC said.

Announcing the election schedule, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the poll panel would hold a drive to increase the voter turnout in urban areas this time. He said that in the recent Haryana Assembly elections, the turnout in some polling booths in urban areas was as low as 20%. The problem of “urban apathy” is still prevalent, he said.

In the 2019 Maharashtra elections, 62 of the 64 urban constituencies recorded lower turnout than the state average of 60.56%, he said. Colaba in Mumbai had the lowest turnout at 40.1%.

A total of 9.63 crore electors in Maharashtra and 2.6 crore in Jharkhand will be eligible to cast their votes. The CEC said there was almost 100% enrolment of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, with 2.77 lakh and 1.78 lakh electors respectively.

Asked about exit polls, which proved to be wrong in the recent Haryana Assembly elections, the CEC said the matter was out of the purview of the poll panel, but those responsible should introspect and self-regulate.

“A big distortion is being created due to exit polls and the expectations they set… There are bodies which govern this… The time has come for these associations… which govern to do some self-regulation,” he said.

He said the sample size and methods of the exit polls are not known, and there is a build-up of expectation from the close of polls till the time of counting, which is usually three days later.

“When counting starts, the results start coming in from 8.05 am-8.10 am, which is nonsense. Is it that the trends are shown to justify the exit polls?…When the actual results come, there is a mismatch. This can lead to serious issues sometimes. The gap between expectations and achievements is nothing but frustration,” he said.

Responding to a question on the Congress’s complaint of irregularities in the recent counting process in 20 Haryana Assembly constituencies, the CEC, in his first public remarks on the issue, said the EC would give a detailed response to each of those complaints and also update its FAQs (frequently asked questions).

The Congress had alleged that some EVMs on which the BJP candidates won had 99% battery charge even after polling and counting, while those in which the Congress candidates won had 60-70% charge.

The CEC said new batteries are installed at the time of commissioning the EVMs, which is five or six days before polling. When the battery output is between 8 volts and 7.4 volts, the EVM display shows 99%, and when it drops below that, the actual percentage is shown, he said.

The term of the 288-seat Maharashtra Assembly ends on November 26, while the term of the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly ends on January 5, 2025.

For at least the past three election cycles, the Haryana and Maharashtra elections were held together. But the EC decided to de-couple the poll schedules this time. Explaining the decision, the CEC had said that since the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) elections had to be held before September 30, as directed by the Supreme Court, and the requirement of forces in J&K was high, only two Assembly elections could be held at a time.