Bypolls for 2 LS seats in Maharashtra on May 28

mumbai — The Election Commission on Thursday announced May 28 as the date for polling in by-elections for two Lok Sabha and one assembly seat in Maharashtra which are vacant for various reasons.

The by-polls will be held in Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituencies and the Palu-Kadegaon assembly seat in Sangli.

Electronic Voting Machines and VVPATs shall be deployed in the elections and the counting of votes will take place simultaneously on May 31.

The Palghar seat in north Konkan fell vacant after the sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MP Chintaman Vanga died on January 30 following a heart attack.

Byelections to the other seat were necessitated when in early December 2017, sitting member Nana Patole, also of the BJP, quit the party and the Lok Sabha seat to join the Congress.

The Palus-Kadegaon seat in Sangli district of western Maharashtra fell vacant after the death of veteran Congress leader and ex-minister Patangrao Kadam on March 9. Bengal rural polls on May 14 Meanwhile, West Bengal will have a single-phase panchayat (rural body) polls on May 14, the State Election Commission announced on Wednesday.

Repoll, if needed, will be held on May 16.

The counting will take place on May 17, the SEC said in a notification.

The decision came after a recommendation from the state government that the polls be held on May 14.

The elections were earlier slated to be held in three phases on May 1, 3 and 5. —