Sanjay Raut criticises Centre's conduct of elections, delay in schedule announcement for Maharashtra, Jharkhand

Nagpur: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut 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, where the elections are due this year.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on August 16 the schedule of elections in Haryana and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir that will be held from September 18 to October 1.
"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.
"On one hand, they talk about one nation, one election, on the other, they cannot conduct elections in 4 states simultaneously," he added.
Further, Raut emphasised the collaborative efforts of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, which includes Shiv Sena (UBT), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SCP), and the Congress Party, to challenge the existing state government.
On party chief Uddhav Thackeray's push for CM name announcement in the run-up to the upcoming assembly elections, Raut highlighted that the choice of the Chief Ministerial candidate significantly influences public opinion.
"Uddhav Thackeray spoke with the same aim, whoever is nominated as the CM candidate, we will support him. People change their opinion by looking at the CM candidate. Had Rahul Gandhi been declared the PM candidate on time, then we (the INDIA bloc) would have won 25 to 30 more seats in the Lok Sabha Elections," Raut said while speaking to reporters on Sunday.
Uddhav Thackeray earlier said that he does not support the idea of the party with the maximum number of MLAs getting the Chief Minister post. "The election commission should announce the elections for Maharashtra today; we are prepared. We will contest elections together as Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi. We will see whom to make Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan, and Pawar Saheb are here, and you may announce anyone as a CM candidate. I will support that name," Uddhav Thackeray said.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Friday said that the high demand for security forces in Jammu and Kashmir is the primary reason for not holding elections in Maharashtra.
"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 5th 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," CEC Rajiv Kumar said.