"BJP wants to win in Jharkhand, Maharashtra by deferring elections": Gaurav Gogoi

Biswanath (Assam) [India], September 24 (ANI): Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is poised to lose the upcoming Assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir and exuded confidence in the opposition alliance, the INDIA bloc, winning in all poll-bound states.
Addressing a press conference in Assam's Biswanath, Gogoi criticised the ruling party BJP for delay in announcing the election schedule for Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
"All of us know that they (BJP) will be defeated in Haryana and they will not be able to form the government in J&K. We have now realised that they want to win Jharkhand and Maharashtra by deferring the elections," the Congress MP said.
Gogoi alleged that the BJP "don't have the courage" to conduct elections as he took a dig at the 'One Nation, One Election' initiative.
"They are talking about the One Nation, One Election, but they don't have the courage to hold the assembly polls in four states- Haryana, J&K, Jharkhand and Maharashtra together. In Maharashtra, people will not support the betrayed politics. I believe that the Congress and INDIA bloc will win in Haryana, Jharkhand, J&K and Maharashtra," Gogoi said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut earlier criticised the central government regarding the conduct of the election process and questioned the delay in the announcement of the schedule in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
"You must have seen news coming in from Jharkhand. They are trying to put Hemant Soren in trouble. They are trying to poach JMM MLAs. Had elections been announced in Jharkhand, MCC would have been implemented in the state and such things would not happen. Even in Maharashtra, they wanted to give more time to the trio (CM and DCMs), which is why elections were not announced for the state," Sanjay Raut said earlier.
Voting in Haryana is scheduled to be held on October 5, while the first phase of voting is completed in Jammu and Kashmir. The second and third phases will be held on September 25 and October 1, respectively. Counting in J-K and Haryana will be on October 8. The election schedule is yet to be announced for Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The Election Commission, during the schedule announcement earlier, credited the high security requirement in J-K as the major reason for postponing elections in the remaining states.
The opposition parties criticised the poll body for the decision and alleged that the ECI was "acting under the influence" of the ruling BJP.
During the press conference earlier this month, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said, "Last time, Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections were held together. At that time, J-K was not a factor, but this time there were 4 elections this year and the fifth election immediately after this, which is to start with J-K, Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Delhi."
"Depending on the requirement of forces, we have decided to conduct 2 elections together. We cannot announce another election in the middle of the Jammu and Kashmir elections," he added. (ANI)