Fadnavis could have chaired his last cabinet meeting, takes 37 decisions

Mumbai: It might well be one of his last meeting of the state cabinet that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis might have chaired in Mantralaya on Monday. It can be judged from the 37 cabinet decisions that he has taken today, a world record of sorts. Sources disclosed that Fadnavis not only thanked his cabinet colleagues, but also his support staff for the cooperation they extended to him in running the government. It is just a matter of days before the Election Commission of India (ECI) steps in to finally announce the schedule for the 2019 general elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) shall come into force the day the election schedule is announced.

Because in 2014 the ECI had announced the schedule for assembly elections on September 12, 2014, while the notification for the same was issued on September 20. As per the poll schedule announced then, the notification was issued on September 20, last date for filing of nomination papers was September 27, 2014, scrutiny of nomination papers was September 29, 2014, last date for withdrawal of nomination papers was October 1, 2014. Single phase Polling was held on October 15, and Counting of Votes and Declaration of Results on October 19, 2014. The entire election process was supposed to have been completed by October 22, 2014.

Sources disclosed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to grace the culmination of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis MahaJanadesh Yatra on September 19. However, it remains to be seen whether the ECI allows Fadnavis some more time or announces the assembly election schedule soon. The poll body has on July 12 already issued directives to the state government not to transfer any government official engaged in poll duty until and unless he or she has not completed three years in his present posting.

To his credit Devendra Fadnavis will go down in the history of the state as the only non-Congress Chief Minister to have completed his full five year term in office as the 18th Chief Minister of the state. Fadnavis took oath of office on October 31, 2014 in Mumbai.. The Shiv Sena which bitterly fought against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the latter snapped its two decade old alliance, joined the Fadnavis cabinet only in December 2014, just days before the first winter session of the state legislature was to begin in Nagpur.

The term of the current 13th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is ending on November 9, 2019. While the current legislative assembly came into existence on November 10, 2014. The party-wise seats won as on October 19, 2014 was – BJP 122 seats, Shiv Sena 63, Congress 42, NCP 41, Independents 7, BVA 3, PWP-I 3, MIM 2, BBM 1, CPI-M 1, MNS 1, RSP 1 and Samajwadi Party 1. Out of the total 288 assembly constituencies – 234 are general, Schedule Caste (SC) reserved constituencies 29 and Schedule Tribe (ST) reserved constituencies are 24.

In the 2014 Assembly elections while in the rest of the 284 constituencies where polling hours were fixed between 7.00 am to 6.00 pm, in four ST constituencies of Amgaon, Armori, Aheri and Gadchiroli the polling hours were between 7.00 am to 3.00 pm due to their remoteness and threats of naxal attacks. In all 4,119 candidates had contested the 2014 assembly elections out of which 3,842 were male (of which 268 won) and 277 were female candidates (of which 20 won).

Between 2014 Assembly elections and the recent May 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the voter population in Maharashtra has increased by 38,02,174. The total voter population in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was 8.73 crore, of which 4.57 crore was male, 4.16 crore was female and 2,086 were transgender voters. Whereas, in the 2014 Assembly elections the total voter population was 8.35 crore, of which 4.41 crore was male, 3.94 female and 972 were transgender voters. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections voters cast their ballot at 95,473 polling stations. Whereas, in 2014 Assembly elections there were 91,329 polling stations. While the final voting percentage in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was 61.03 percent, in the 2014 Assembly elections it was 63.08 percent.