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.
Polling for 90 seats of Haryana and 288 constituencies of Maharashtra has begun on Monday at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
The electoral fate of over 4400 candidates — 1169 in Haryana and 3237 in Maharashtra — will be sealed in EVMs by the voters who will exercise their democratic franchise in the assembly elections.
In Haryana, 19,578 polling stations have been set up whereas there are 96,661 polling booths in Maharashtra for citizens to cast their votes.
In Haryana, 2,987 polling booths have been marked as vulnerable whereas 151 critical polling stations have been identified, the live footage of which would be 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 in the state.
The assembly election in Haryana will witness a multi-cornered contest among the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal and the Jannayak Janta Party.
For the Maharashtra assembly elections, 40,000 police personnel will be deployed in Mumbai and drones will be used for surveillance as part of security arrangements, the Mumbai Police had earlier said.
The Maharashtra police will also maintain strict vigil throughout the state with its personnel deployed for election duties in all districts along with home guards, companies of Central Armed Police Forces and Central Reserve Police Force for the polling day.
The 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.
The 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 had come 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, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi were among national leaders who campaigned in the two states.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar also campaigned extensively in Maharashtra.
The elections are significant as it is the first assembly polls after Modi steered the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance 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.
The BJP is in power on its own in Haryana and in alliance with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Photographs: ANI