No simultaneous polls in state: CM Fadnavis

Sena not averse to holding concurrent elections, claims Cong.

Update: 2019-01-31 20:08 GMT
Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday ruled out the possibility of simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state. However, the Congress claimed Mr Fadnavis might reluctantly agree to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) alliance intact with the Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has said the state Assembly election shou-ld be held alongside the Lok Sabha election.

Last week, senior BJP leader and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil had said that elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assembly would be held separately.

In a reply to a question posed by a news agency as to whether he had been asked by the BJP high command in Delhi about his views on simultaneous polls, the chief minister replied in the negative.

Mr Fadnavis said that there is no prospect of a-dvancing the Assembly polls so that they can be held alongside the Lok Sabha elections.

The Assembly's term e-nds in November 2019 a-nd the elections are likely to be held in October while the Lok Sabha elections are just two months away.

Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said that the BJP has bowed down before its ally Shiv Sena, as the latter has said that if there is an alliance, it should be for both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

Mr Nirupam said, “The BJP had told the Sena to first have an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls and then consider (one for) the Assembly (polls). But the Shiv Sena wants an alliance for both and is not averse to holding simultaneous polls.”

He also said that his party is aware that Mr Fadnavis would reluctantly agree to the proposal of the BJP's central leadership to hold simultaneous polls in alliance with the Sena.

The Congress leader said that this issue had been discussed in the party meetings. The party has begun preparations for the Assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha election.

Meanwhile, NCP spok-esperson Nawab Malik said that the Prime Minister favoured simultaneous elections and so the state government should call for them.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande rubbished the Congress city chief's claim and said that Mr Nirupam did not run the day-to-day affairs of her party.

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