Electoral fate of over 4,400 candidates 1169 in Haryana and 3237 in Maharashtra will be decided as voting in both the states began at 7 am on Monday. In Haryana, 19,578 polling stations have been set up whereas 96,661 in Maharashtra for people to cast their votes. The polling for 90 Assembly seats of Haryana and 288 seats of Maharashtra will continue till 6 pm. The counting of votes will take place on October 24.
In Haryana, 2,987 have been marked as vulnerable, whereas 151 critical polling stations have been identified, the live footage of which is being monitored in the control room set up at the headquarters in Chandigarh.
More than 40,000 Haryana Police personnel, over 13,000 paramilitary personnel and more than 20,000 Home Guards and Special Police Officers have been deployed for conducting the elections.
The assembly election will witness a multi-cornered contest among BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).
For Maharashtra Assembly elections, 40,000 police personnel have been deployed in Mumbai and drones are being used for surveillance as part of security arrangements, Mumbai Police had earlier said.
Maharashtra police are also maintaining a strict vigil throughout the state with its personnel deployed for election duties in all districts along with home guards, companies of CAPF and CRPF for the polling day.
BJP is contesting 150 seats in 288-member Maharashtra Assembly while its ally Shiv Sena has fielded 124 candidates. The remaining seats have been left for smaller allies.
Congress is contesting the polls in alliance with Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.
Campaigning in Maharashtra and Haryana for the Assembly elections, 2019 concluded on Saturday.
The Model Code of Conduct came into force on September 21 after the Election Commission of India announced Assembly election dates.
During the campaign period, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi were among national leaders campaigned in the two states. NCP chief Sharad Pawar campaigned extensively in Maharashtra.
The elections are significant as it is the first assembly polls after Modi steered the BJP-led NDA to a resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year for a successive second term at the Centre.
It is also the first assembly polls after the BJP-led government's decision to repeal Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
BJP is in power on its own in Haryana and in alliance with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
The BJP leaders targeted Congress on its past record in office and vociferously raised the issues of the repeal of Article 370 and the efforts to boost national security.
The Congress and other opposition parties raised issues such as "unemployment", "slow down in economy" and " farm distress".
(With inputs from ANI)
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