Counting of votes for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections will begin early Saturday morning amid tight security.

Counting across all the centres in Maharashtra and Jharkhand will begin at 8 am, an Election Commission official said. The counting of postal ballots will begin first, he added.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, which witnessed a direct contest between the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP Mahayuti alliance and the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, were held in a single phase on 20th November. The state recorded a voter turnout of 65.02 per cent.

Bigwigs whose fate will be decided include Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, former state minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, and NCP leader Nawab Malik.

It may be mentioned that exit polls for the Maharashtra Assembly elections predicted a victory for the Mahayuti alliance.

Earlier, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the Mahayuti would retain power with a huge majority.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, the NCP 54, and the Congress 44 constituencies.

In Jharkhand, the Assembly elections witnessed a direct contest between the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress alliance and the BJP-led NDA. The first phase of voting in 43 Assembly seats was held on 13th November and the second phase in 38 seats on 20th November. The first phase recorded a voter turnout of 66.65 per cent and the second phase 68.45 per cent.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpana Soren, former chief minister and state BJP chief Babulal Marandi, Leader of Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly Amar Kumar Bauri, and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) president Sudesh Mahto are prominent candidates whose fate will be decided in the election.

Kalpana Soren exuded confidence in the JMM-Congress-led alliance’s victory in the mineral-rich state and said that the people of Jharkhand had chosen the path of development.

Notably, exit polls telecast by different private TV channels on Wednesday evening predicted a win for the BJP-led NDA.

In the 2019 Assembly polls, the JMM won 30 seats, Congress 16, and BJP 25 constituencies.