CEC Sunil Arora made a declaration in New Delhi on Saturday afternoon, which also included Haryana (90 seats) Assembly polls to be conducted along with Maharashtra's 288 seats. The programme for the Satara Lok Sabha bypoll wasn't announced.

Since the Maharashtra lower house cannot work beyond November 9 this year, it is legally mandatory that due process of installing a new house is completed before the incumbent's termination. The poll commission chose to not clash elections with Diwali dates. The winners would celebrate the festival much before it begins.

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The alliances between BJP, Shiv Sena and their associates, and Congress and NCP, along with a third front Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and other parties like AIMIM, Samajwadi, BSP, several factions of RPI and independents would be seen in action.

The saffron alliance hasn't been announced yet. Insiders say the declaration could happen after deliberations between BJP chief Amit Shah, CM Devendra Fadnavis and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, to be held on Sunday. Fadnavis was expected to visit Thackeray's residence on Saturday night for talks with the Sena chief ahead of Shah's arrival today.

Mark your poll calendar

September 27
Issue of notification

October 4
Last date of filing nomination

October 5
Scrutiny of nominations

October 7
Last date of withdrawal of candidature

October 21
Polling across the state

October 21
Counting

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