New Delhi: Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana will be held on October 21, the Election Commission announced on Saturday. Counting of votes in both the states will be held on October 24, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora said at a press conference. While the term of 288-member Maharashtra assembly ends on November 9, that of the 90-member Haryana assembly expires on November 2.

*Notification for Maharashtra assembly election to be issued on September 27*

*Last date of filing nomination October 4*

Scrutiny on October 5

*Last date of withdrawal Oct 7*

*Polling on October 21*

and

*Counting on October 24*

— Dharmendra Jore (@dharmendrajore) September 21, 2019

Earlier, the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee had urged masses to pitch in ideas for its manifesto for the elections. The BJP came to power in the state in the last Assembly elections. On the other hand, in Maharashtra, the BJP and Shiv Sena contested 2014 state Assembly elections separately after they failed to arrive at a seat-sharing formula. However, they formed the government in the alliance after the elections as none of the parties was able to secure a majority on its own.