ECI 'satisfied' with Assembly poll preparations in Haryana

The Election Commission of India (ECI) today said it was "satisfied" with the preparatory arrangements made for the upcoming Assembly polls in Haryana.
"We are satisfied with the preparatory arrangements by the state and district machinery," Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath said here after holding separate meetings with political parties and district and police officers.
The polling for the 90 Assembly seats in Haryana are to be held before end of October.
Sampath said the poll panel would visit all the four poll-bound states -- Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir. "So far we have visited Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana," he said, adding that the next in the list is Jammu and Kashmir.

"We have not decided upon dates yet," he said in reply to questions relating to possible election schedule for the four states. He remained non-committal on whether the polls in the four states will be held simultaneously or in phased manner.
"We are getting inputs from political parties by visiting poll bound states," he said, adding that after "examining" the ground situation a final decision will be taken on poll dates in the four states.
He, however, said after visiting Maharashtra and Haryana the Commission is of the opinion that October month is a festival season in the two states while its heavy monsoon in September in Jharkhand.

Sampath said during the poll panel's visit to Haryana it met around eight to nine political parties first and then held parleys with Deputy Commissioners (DCs), Superintendents of Police (SPs), Inspector Generals of Police (IGPs), Divisional Commissioners, Chief Secretary, Director General of Police (DGP) and officers of the Income Tax (IT) to seek information on election arrangements.