Mumbai, March 8: With the countdown for the Lok Sabha Elections dates’ – to be announced by the Election Commission – has begun, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis quashed the possibility of holding the state Assembly and Lok Sabha polls together on Friday. On the other side, opposition parties – Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – say that they are ready to face both the elections.

Speaking about the BJP’s decision not to hold the simultaneous elections together, state CM Fadnavis informed in Nagpur, as Hindustan Times quotes, “Rest assured the elections in Maharashtra are not going to be held prematurely. Such reports are baseless.” Lok Sabha Elections 2019: CPM Releases 1st List of Candidates For West Bengal; Names Mohammed Salim From Raiganj, Badaruddoza Khan From Murshidabad. 

The speculations of simultaneous elections gained momentum after the state cabinet meeting’s weekly meeting held in Nagpur cleared 22 decisions and reports made the rounds that cabinet might decide on dissolving the Assembly soon. Earlier too, similar reports of simultaneous reports made the headlines, but were shunted after BJP and Shiv Sena made an alliance for the Lok Sabha Elections. According to the alliance, the BJP would contest in 25 seats, while Shiv Sena would field candidates in 23 constituencies.

Commenting on the reports of simultaneous polls, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “It will be an opportunist move and betrayal of people’s trust, if the BJP government goes for simultaneous elections. In 1999, too, the saffron combine made a similar attempt, and lost power. This time too, they will meet the same fate.”

Even NCP said that they are ready for the polls. Party leader Supriya Sule said, “Just like other parties, we are prepared for the polls. However, the BJP won’t get the benefit of surgical strikes as their leaders didn’t cross the border to attack the terrorist camp. They will also have to take ownership of the Pulwama attack, which was a complete intelligence failure. People will not forget the loss of 40 lives.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 08, 2019 09:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).