Assembly elections date announcement Highlights: J-K votes on Sep 18, 25 & Oct 1; Haryana on Oct 1; Counting on Oct 4

Assembly Elections Schedule Highlights: The assembly elections for 90 seats of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases – September 18, 25 and October 1, Election Commission said on August 16.

The assembly election in Haryana will be held in single phase on October 1. The results of both the assembly elections will be declared on October 4. Both Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assemblies have 90 seats each. Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand will be held later.

In Jammu and Kashmir, voting will be held at 24 seats in the first phase on September 18. Another 26 seats will vote in second phase on September 25. The final phase, on October 1, will see voting in 40 seats, the poll panel said.

The poll panel recently visited Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana to review the preparations for the Assembly elections 2024.

BJP Vs Congress in Haryana

The terms of the legislative assemblies of Haryana ends in November.

In 2019, assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party and formed the government in a post-poll alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and seven Independent MLAs in Haryana.

BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar and JJP President Dushyant Chautala were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively of BJP-JJP alliance government. Khattar has since resigned and is now a minister in Modi 3.0. Chautala left the alliance just before Lok Sabha polls.

With Congress and BJP finishing with five seats each in Lok Sabha polls 2024, the assembly polls in Haryana will be interesting.

First Assembly Polls since 2014 in J-K

Elections to Jammu and Kashmir assembly is also due after the Supreme Court set September 30, 2024 deadline for holding polls in the UT.

Jammu and Kashmir has been under Central rule since June 19, 2018, following the collapse of a coalition government headed by the People’s Democratic Party’s Mehbooba Mufti after the pullout of its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

After the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – in August 2019 and the abrogation of Article 370 , the Assembly polls could not be held due to various reasons, including a delimitation exercise completed in 2022.

In December last year, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to conclude the election process by September 30, 2024.

Fight between INDIA bloc partners

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) - the two mainstream regional parties of the UT - are likely to face each other during the upcoming assembly polls. The National Conference is headed by former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and PDP is headed by former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

The two parties, in the INDIA bloc, have decided to fight the Assembly elections without any pre-poll alliance. The two parties contested against each other for three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir earlier this year.

The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 witnessed an improved voter turn out in all five parliamentary seats of Jammu and Kashmir.

Assembly elections date announcement Highlights: J-K votes on Sep 18, 25 & Oct 1; Haryana on Oct 1; Counting on Oct 4

Assembly Elections Schedule Highlights: The Election Commission announced the schedule for assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir on August 16.