The model code of conduct came into force with immediate affect after the announcement. The counting will be on October 22.
Maharashtra — in its 50th year of existence — will keep its date with the assembly elections on October 13. Chief election commissioner Navin Chawla announced a single-phase election to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, along with the 90-member Haryana and 60-member Arunachal Pradesh assemblies. The model code of conduct came into force with immediate affect after the announcement. The counting will be on October 22.
Explaining the timing, just three days before Diwali (October 17), Chawla said, “The decision has been taken after considering all factors, including public holidays, the academic calendar, climatic conditions and the time required for deployment of forces.”
The gap of nine days between polling and counting, Chawla said, was because collecting the electronic voting machines from far-flung areas in Arunachal Pradesh would take considerable time.
Interestingly, the Congress is in power in all the three states going to polls on October 13, including Maharashtra where its coalition partner is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
While it appears to be a straight fight in Maharashtra between the Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena-BJP combines, the alliances are treading on shaky ground.
The two ruling parties may have decided to battle it out together, but the Congress is expected to continue putting pressure on the NCP for a larger share of seats, citing better performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
In fact, when AK Antony, in charge of Maharashtra affairs, meets NCP chief Sharad Pawar to commence negotiations, he will come armed with the findings of a survey conducted by two professional agencies as well as an internal survey to substantiate his party’s claims. However, the Congress will be wary of crossing the line because it cannot hope to run the government on its own steam.
Internal tension aside, the combine has to deal with the externalities too. “Price rise and inflation are the major issues, and both the ruling parties will have to face the electorate on that,” says Pratap Asbe, senior journalist and analyst.
For the Sena too, the issue is price —the price that it may have to pay for the turmoil in the top order of its long-standing partner, the BJP. The echoes of the rumblings in the headquarters are already being felt in the state, with the Maharashtra unit not in favour of including senior leader LK Advani among the star campaigners.
The party’s political managers in Maharashtra have decided to revert to all-India general secretary Gopinath Munde and state BJP president Nitin Gadkari to shoulder campaigning responsibilities. They are also expecting Sena chief Bal Thackeray to work his magic through a joint public rally.
A senior BJP leader said on condition of anonymity, “It’s nothing personal about Advani. We still have the highest regard for him as our leader. But when we project a defeated leadership, it does not enthuse the cadre.”
On the periphery, parties like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Third Front (a motley group of RPI factions, Communist parties, etc) hope to play spoilers to either of the big guns.
“The elections will not be about who will win, but about who will sabotage whom,” said Kumar Ketkar, editor of Loksatta. The rebellion factor will play a decisive role too. “No combine will get a majority. They will have to take the help of independents and borrow from the so-called Third Front,” said Ketkar.
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Inputs from B Mahesh & Shubhangi Khapre in Mumbai, and Javed Ansari
& Anil Anand in New Delhi
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