The Assembly election in Delhi, being touted as a direct contest between BJP and AAP, will be held on February 7, the Election Commission announced today.
Counting of votes for the election to the 70-member Assembly will be held on February 10, ahead of the expiry President's Rule which was imposed in the capital on February 15, last year.
With the declaration of the poll schedule, the Model Code of Conduct will come into force with immediate effect, the EC said.
The notification for the polls will be issued by the Lt Governor on January 14 while the last date for filing nominations is January 21. The date of scrutiny is January 22, while candidates can withdraw from the electoral battle by January 24.
Addressing a press conference here, the full Commission comprising Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath and Election Commissioners H S Brahma and Nasim Zaidi, said 1.30 crore voters were eligible to exercise their franchise to elect a new Assembly.
"The dissolution (of the Delhi Assembly) order of the President will expire by February 15 and in order to restore the mandate of the people as expeditiously as possible, the Commission has decided to go in for elections where the results will be known well before February 15," Sampath said.
The electoral process in Delhi will be completed by February 12.
The CEC said that the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi will witness a "very heated and hectic" political campaign as there are no polls being held anywhere in the country during that period and the "focus of all political parties" will be here.
He said the EC has put up a mechanism for conduct of a free and fair election and all measures to check the use of "money power" will be taken.
Responding to a volley of questions that the EC was not following the principle of giving a month's time between announcement of the polls and the date of nomination, Sampath said three weeks is the "outer limit" but the timeline can be reduced to two weeks or even one week.
"Giving more time would have been a ritual than a requirement as people were anticipating polls for a very long time," he said.
