Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said all efforts would be made to ensure the bypolls to Baramati and Rahuri Assembly seats are held unopposed through consensus, but asserted the BJP was ready if it comes down to a contest. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced during the day that bypolls to Baramati in Pune and Rahuri in Ahilyanagar, necessitated by the deaths of then Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and BJP legislator Shivaji Kardile, respectively, will be held on April 23. Addressing a press conference for the announcement of the poll schedule, Kumar said votes will be counted on May 4. Speaking to reporters before the announcement by the Election Commission of India, Fadnavis said, “All attempts would be to arrive at a unanimous decision so that elections are held unopposed.

 

However, if an election is imposed on us (BJP-led Mahayuti), we are prepared for a contest as well.” While NCP stalwart Ajit Pawar (66) was killed in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28 this year, Kardile died of a cardiac arrest on October 17 last year at the age of 66. Bypolls are scheduled for eight Assembly seats across the country. While five seats in Goa, Karnataka, Nagaland and Tripura will go to polls on April 9, the date is April 23 for one seat in Gujarat and two (Baramati and Rahuri) in Maharashtra. The other six seats are Ponda in Goa, Bagalkot and Davnagere South in Karnataka, Koridang in Nagaland, Dharmanagar in Tripura and Umreth in Gujarat. The notification for the bye elections in Maharashtra will be issuedon March 30. The last date for filing nominations is April 6, while scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 7.

 

Candidates can withdraw their nominations till April 9. Voting will be conducted using Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail systems at all polling stations. With the announcement of the poll schedule, the Model Code of Conduct, a set of guidelines that govern the conduct of political parties and candidates in the run-up to an election, has come into immediate effect in both constituencies.