New Delhi, January 21: With months remaining for the Lok Sabha elections, speculations are high on whether polls in Maharashtra would be pre-poned and held with the upcoming general elections. Even an opposition leader in the state assembly hinted that elections in Maharashtra for 288 seats might be held in the first week of April.

A close source of the opposition party in Maharashtra, on condition of anonymity, stated that the government is planning for simultaneous polls with the Lok Sabha elections and there are very high chances that the state would go for the poll in April this year. Along with Maharashtra, other two states where pre-polls can take place are Jharkhand and Haryana – led by Bharatiya Janata Party. EVM Can Be Hacked in India? US Cyber Expert to Display Live Hacking of Electronic Voting Machine in London Today Ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2019.

Speculations are also high on the fate of Jammu and Kashmir, as Governor Satyapal Malik in November last year dissolved the Assembly after a combined coalition of National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and Congress claimed to form a government. Previously in June 2018, the BJP broke alliance with PDP, and due to this, the state went under the control of Governor.

Expressing her opinion on the simultaneous elections in the state, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had said, as reported by Indian Express, “I can’t say… Ideally it would be good to have it along with the general elections. We need to have a government in place to stop these backdoor orders.”

The remaining states which are most likely to go for polls along with Lok Sabha elections include – Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Arunachal Pradesh. The terms for these state ends on May 27, June 18, June 11 and June 1 respectively.

Considering the point that all these states mentioned above are ruled by BJP, barring Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, the centrally governed party would undoubtedly push for simultaneous polls – ‘One Nation, One Election’.

According to the information received, the Election Commission might announce the dates for Lok Sabha elections in the first week of March, as the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3. However, EC spokesperson had said, “No decision has been taken as yet on the date when the elections would be announced.” The whole situation depends on the availability of security forces and other requirements.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 21, 2019 05:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).