Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam and union territory of Puducherry, with a lot of stakes for Congress and BJP in at least two of them each, will be held between April 4 and May 16, spread over 43 days.
It will be a single-day polling in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry on May 16 while it will be in six phases in West Bengal and two in Assam.
Counting of votes in all the states will be held on May 19, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced today unveiling the poll schedule.
Congress is in power in Assam and Kerala while the BJP fancies itself as being a top contender in Assam in alliance with AGP and some small outfits. The BJP is seeking to emerge as a major player in West Bengal, where there are possibilities of Congress and Left joining hands directly or indirectly to take on Trinamool Congress.
Like in 2011, West Bengal will have polls spread over six phases. The first phase to be held in Left wing extremism affected areas will have two polling dates--April 4 and April 11. The other phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5. Assam will go to polls in two phases on April 4 and 11.
Zaidi said two dates in the first phase of polling in West Bengal have been decided keeping in mind the sensitive nature of the area and the availability of security personnel as they would also be deployed in Assam which is also considered sensitive.
He maintained that West Bengal will have polls in "overall" six phases.
While refusing to specify the strength of central forces
deployed in West Bengal for the assembly polls, Zaidi said their number has increased as compared to 2011 polls.
He also said following delimitation exercise in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, 16,000 people who became Indian citizens following of exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh, will be able to cast votes in the polls.
The law which allows EC to hold delimitation exercise to put these people in various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies came into force this morning.
The CEC said due to the delimitation exercise, Cooch Behar has been kept in the last phase of assembly polls to be held on May 5.
As part of measures to ensure neutrality of officials during polls, the EC has already ordered transfer of officials above the rank of sub inspectors and inspectors to be moved out of areas where they have served for over three years.
To poser on 'proximity' of certain officials in West Bengal with the ruling party there, he said he would not go into names of officials or any particular state, but the Commission will ensure that only those who are neutral and impartial are associated with poll-related work. "We will take appropriate action...We are keeping a watch," he said.
He was asked about duplicity of voters in Kerala to which Zaidi said the Commission has used a latest software to delete multiple entries. "We will now investigate whether it was an inadvertent mistake or a mischief," he said.
Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry assemblies have 126, 140, 234, 294 and 30 constituencies respectively.
The elections will also see for the first time a symbol, which has been created by the National School of Design, allotted to NOTA (None of the above) that will be placed at the bottom of the list of candidates.
Noting that voters are in the focus of the Commission, Zaidi said all booths will have seven basic facilities and there will also be all-women polling booths.
If possible polling centres will be set up in blind schools, leprosy centres to ensure inclusiveness.
Mobile squads will have GPS-fitted vehicles and be accompanied by central forces to ensure that they quickly attend to complaints.
A total of 17 crore voters in the five states will use over 1.18 lakh polling stations to cast their votes.
(REOPENS DEL 51)
As per the schedule announced by the Election Commission, Punjab and Goa will go to polls on February 4 for which separate notifications will be issued on January 11 and the last date of filing nominations will be January 18.
Scrutiny of nomination papers will be carried out on January 19 and candidates can withdraw from the electoral battle till January 21.
In Uttar Pradesh, the notification for the first phase will be issued on January 17 and the last date of filing nominations would be January 24. The scrutiny will take place on January 25 and candidates can withdraw by January 27. The date of poll for phase 1 is February 11.
For phase 2, the notification will be issued on January 20 and the last date of filing papers is January 27. January 30 is the date set for scrutiny of nominations and February 1 is the last date when candidates can withdraw from contest.
The poll date for the second phase is February 15.
For the third phase in UP, the notification will be issued on January 24 and January 31 is the last date for filing nominations. The scrutiny date has been set as February 1 and by February 3, candidates can withdraw from the poll process. The date of poll is February 15.
The phase 4 notification will be issued on January 30 and February 6 is the date by which nominations can be filed. The scrutiny is the next day and withdrawal of candidature can be done till February 9. The polling date is February 23.
For phase 5, the notification will be issued on February 2 and the last date of filing nominations is February 9. The scrutiny is scheduled for the next day and by February 13 candidates can withdraw. The date of poll has been fixed for February 27.
For the penultimate phase, the nomination will be issued on February 7, and February 14 is the date by which nominations can be filed.
The scrutiny of papers is on February 16 and candidates can withdraw from the race by February 18. The date of poll for the sixth phase has been fixed for March 3.
The notification for the final phase of UP assembly election will be out on February 9. February 16 is the last date of making nominations and scrutiny will take place on February 17. Candidates can withdraw by February 20 and the date of poll is March 8.
Uttarakhand will go to polls on February 15 for which the notification will be issued on January 20 and the last date of filing nominations is January 27. The scrutiny will be held on January 30 and candidates can withdraw from the race by February 1.
The first phase of Manipur assembly election will take place on March 4 for which the notification will be issued on February 7. While nominations can be filed by February 14, the scrutiny will be held on February 16 and the candidates can withdraw till February 18.
The election in the second phase will be held on March 8 for which notification will be out on February 9. While February 16 is the last date of filing nominations, the scrutiny will be held the next day. Candidates can withdraw by February 20.
