Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and by-elections in 17 other states, starting Monday

Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and by-elections in 17 other state assemblies started on Monday.

The polls are to take place in 288 seats in Maharashtra, 90 seats in Haryana, 51 other seats in 17 state assemblies and two Lok Sabha constituencies . The polls started from 7 am and will continue till 6 pm today. Of the 51 seats, 31 are currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 12 by Congress and the rest by regional parties.
The other states in which the assembly bye-elections will be conducted are Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Kerala, Assam, Punjab, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chattisgarh, Puducherry, Meghalaya and Telangana.
In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena is contesting in 124 seats. BJP and other allies of Shiv Sena are contesting in the rest. Congress is contesting from 146 seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 117 seats.

Altogether 3,237 candidates are contesting in Maharashtra, with 8 crore voters involved in the poll process. In Haryana, BJP – the ruling party at the Centre is contesting against Congress and Jannayak Janata Party. In both states, huge contingent of security personnel have been deployed along with central forces.

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