Assembly elections in Jharkhand likely to be preponed

Ranchi, July 9: Preparations are being with reports coming from Centre that assembly elections may be held in Jharkhand before the scheduled time (January 5, 2025).

There are chances that the election may be announced by September 15. Sources are saying that the Election Commission is preparing to conduct elections in Jharkhand in October along with Maharashtra and Haryana.

This time the work of voter revision in Jharkhand is being done along with Maharashtra and Haryana. In the year 2019, the second revision of the voter list of Maharashtra and Haryana was not done along with Jharkhand.

Also, the final publication of the voter list done before the last election was done in October. At the same time, this time the Commission has fixed the date of final publication of the voter list on August 20 itself.

Election Commission has fixed July 1 as the eligibility date for voter revision. It is also being argued that if the Commission had to announce the election in November, then October 1 would have been fixed as the eligibility date for voter revision. The Election Commission has the constitutional power to announce elections 180 days before the completion of the term of any government. The commission can decide the date of the election as per its convenience. However, it is a constitutional obligation to announce the election at least 45 days before the end of the term of any government.

The election commission will review the election preparations along with the voter revision with all the deputy commissioners of the state on July 11.

On July 10, the senior deputy election commissioners of the election commission Dharmendra Sharma and Nitesh Vyas are coming to Jharkhand. The commission’s principal secretary Arvind Anand will also accompany them. The same evening, the officers will review the voter revision and election preparations with the chief election officer of the state.

On July 11, they will also review the preparations by holding a meeting with all the deputy commissioners of the state. The review meeting will be held in Patratu of Ramgarh district.