Nominations open tomorrow for Assembly polls in Assam

New Delhi, Mar 9: Nominations open tomorrow (Mar 10, 2006) in Assam for the first phase of Assembly elections on April 3 that will cover 65 of the 126 seats in the House.

This will mark the beginning of issuance of election notifications for five Assemblies -- of neighbouring West Bengal, which is slated to witness a five-phase polling, and Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry in the south.

Tomorrow's election notification will be issued by Assam Governor Lt Gen Ajai Singh. Districts involved in the first phase of polling in the state are Karimganj (five assembly constituencies), Hailakandi (three), Cachar ((7), Kamrup-Rural (6), Kamrup-Metro (4), Morigaon (3), Hojai subdivision (3), Golaghat (4), Jorhat (6), Sibsagar (6), Lakhimpur (4), Dhemaji (2), Dibrugarh (7) and Tinsukia (5).

Nominations will be open till March 17. Scrutiny will take place on March 18. The last date for withdrawal is March 20.

Counting of votes in all the four states and Pondicherry will be taken up on May 11.

The second and final phase of voting in Assam to be held on April 10 will cover the remaining 61 seats for which the notification will be issued on March 17.

Tamil Nadu will have a single day voting on May 8 for which nominations open on April 13.

Kerala will have three rounds of voting, the first on April 22 (59 seats), the second round on April 29 (66 seats) and the final phase on May 3 (15 seats). The notifications for the three phases will be issued on March 28 and 31 and April 5 respectively.

Pondicherry will have two rounds of polling on May 3 and May 8 for which notifications will be issued on April 5 and April 13 respectively.

The polling dates for West Bengal are April 17, 22 and 27, May 3 and 8. The election notifications will be issued on March 24 and 28, April 1, 5 and 13 respectively.

UNI