Haryana, Maharashtra to vote Oct 15

New Delhi: Haryana and Maharashtra will vote Oct 15 to elect new assemblies and the results will be known Oct 19, it was announced Friday.

Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath told the media that the last day for filing nominations is Sep 27. Candidates can withdraw from the contest by Oct 1.

Haryana has 90 assembly seats and Maharashtra 288. Both states are ruled by the Congress, the latter in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party.

Sampath put the number of voters in Haryana at 16 million and in Maharashtra at 82 million.

He promised to ensure free and fair polls apart from creating a proper atmosphere for the conduct of the elections.

Sampath said the Election Commission was "watching closely" the situation in flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, and the election dates in Jharkhand as well as Kashmir would be announced later.