Campaigning for Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana ended this evening. Voting for 288-member Maharashtra assembly and 90-member Haryana assembly will take place on Monday. Bypolls to two Lok Sabha constituencies and 51 Assembly seats in 17 states will also be held on the same day. The two Lok Sabha seats where by-polls will be held are Samastipur in Bihar and Satara constituency in Maharashtra.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure free, fair and peaceful polls. The main contest in Maharashtra is between BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and Congress-NCP combine. MNS, BSP, CPI(M) and CPI are among other parties contesting. A total of 3,237 candidates are in the fray. The number of male candidates is 3,001 and female 235. The hectic campaigning saw bigwigs of all political parties criss-crossing the state making their last-ditch effort to woo voters.
Polling will be held in 96,661 polling booths across the state and it will be for the first time Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used for election in Maharashtra. The main contest in Haryana, is between the BJP and the Congress. Counting for all seats will be held on the 24th of this month.