Mumbai: Sanjay Raut, a senior leader of Shiv Sena (UBT), has voiced strong criticism against the central government regarding the delay in announcing election schedules for Maharashtra and Jharkhand, where elections are due this year. His remarks come in the wake of the Election Commission of India's (ECI) announcement on August 16 regarding the election schedules for Haryana and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which are set to take place from September 18 to October 1.
Raut argued that the delay in scheduling elections in Jharkhand is part of a strategy to trouble Chief Minister Hemant Soren and interfere with the activities of JMM MLAs. He suggested that if elections had been scheduled earlier, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) would have been in place, preventing such issues. He also implied that the delay in Maharashtra is intended to give the current administration, including the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers, more time.
Raut criticized the central government for its inability to conduct simultaneous elections in four states, contrasting this with their promotion of the "one nation, one election" concept. He emphasized the efforts of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Congress Party, to challenge the current state government.
Regarding the upcoming assembly elections, Raut supported Uddhav Thackeray's stance on announcing the Chief Ministerial candidate in advance to influence public opinion positively. He highlighted that such announcements could have impacted the Lok Sabha elections' outcome, suggesting that early declarations might have resulted in additional seats for the INDIA bloc.
Uddhav Thackeray has previously stated that he does not support the notion of automatically awarding the Chief Minister’s post to the party with the most MLAs. He called for immediate election announcements for Maharashtra, expressing readiness to contest as part of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition and support any candidate chosen for Chief Minister.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar addressed the delay, citing the high demand for security forces in Jammu and Kashmir as the primary reason for the staggered election schedule. He noted that last time Maharashtra and Haryana elections were held together, but this year, with multiple elections scheduled, the ECI decided to conduct only two elections at a time to manage security effectively.
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