Assembly elections to be held in Delhi, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana

The BJP on Friday kicked off poll preparations for Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi where Assembly elections are due in the coming months.

Party president Amit Shah appointed Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Narendra Singh Tomar and party general secretary Bhupendra Yadav as the election in-charge for Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra, respectively.

The party appointed party vice-president O. P. Mathur as poll in-charge for Jharkhand, it said in a statement.

The Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand are slated for later this year, while Delhi is due to go to the polls in early 2020. The party also appointed Union Ministers Nityanand Rai and Hardeep Singh Puri to assist Mr. Javadekar in Delhi, where the BJP managed to win only three of the 70 seats in the previous Assembly election.

Mr. Javadekar, who was earlier in charge of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan, said he would discharge the new responsibility with dedication and would prepare plans for the Delhi polls after consulting the party president and other leaders.

More appointments

The BJP has appointed co-in-charge for Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana too.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and OBC leader Keshav Prasad Maurya, along with Karnataka leader Laxman Sevadi, would be the co-in-charge for Maharashtra.

Mr. Tomar would be assisted by Bhupendra Singh, a Jat leader from Haryana, in handling election-related affairs in the State. Jats have a sizeable population in Haryana.

Nand Kishore Yadav, a Bihar Minister, would assist Mr. Mathur in Jharkhand.