New Delhi: Single-phase Assembly elections will be held in Maharashtra and Haryana on October 21 and the counting of votes will be taken up on October 24, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora announced on Saturday. The term of the 90-member Haryana Assembly ends on November 2. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to take on the Congress-led Opposition to retain power in both the states.

Notifications for the Assembly elections will be issued on September 27 and the nomination process will begin on the same day. The last day for filing nominations is October 4 and the nomination papers will be scrutinised on October 5. Arora, accompanied by Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, said October 7 would be the last date for candidates to withdraw from the electoral battle. Welcoming the announcement, BJP president Amit Shah urged voters to cast their ballots for a "strong government".