When will Maharashtra Assembly elections be held? EC answers

The Election Commission, which is in Mumbai to review poll preparedness in Maharashtra, met district electoral officers (DEOs), superintendents of police, municipal commissioners, divisional commissioners and other senior officials of the state government.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Saturday reviewed the poll preparedness in Maharashtra along with fellow Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, Kumar also directed state police officers to speed up investigation in electoral offences filed in the state during the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

When asked about the Assembly elections dates, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said, "In Maharashtra, there are 288 constituencies of which ST constituencies are 25 and ST constituencies are 29. The term of the Maharashtra legislative assembly is ending on 26 November so elections have to be completed before that. Total electors in the states are 9.59 crores with male being 4.59 crores and female being 4.64 crores...First-time voters from 18-19 years are quite encouraging, around 19.48 lakhs..."

The CEC also asked the DEOs to ensure proper signages and directions for guiding voters where multiple polling stations are in one location. The commission also sought status of electoral offences related FIRs in Lok Sabha elections from superintendents of police and directed review of all cases related to personnel, EVM and social media.

The term of the Maharashtra assembly ends on November 26 and elections are expected to be announced some time next month.