5-state assembly polls to be held in April-May, EC to announce dates soon

Bengaluru, March 2: As assembly elections are scheduled to be held in four states-West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and one Union Terrrotiry-- Puducherry, the Elections Commisssion of India is set to announce the much-awaited dates in next few days.

According to news reports, the elections will be spread across five-six phases, between mid-April and mid-May duration.

Before announcing the dates, the Election Commission is working out on the crucial deployment of Central-para military forces, for which it is holding consultations with the Home ministry.

On Tuesday, March 1, a meeting between EC and home ministry officials took place at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi.

The EC officials also held a final round of talks with the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all states-- CEO of West Bengal Sunil Gupta, CEO of Assam Sri Vijayendra, CEO of Kerala E K Majhi, CEO of Tamil Nadu Thiru. Rajesh Lakhoni and CEO of Puducherry V. Candavelou.

The model code of conduct will come into immediate force in all five states, once the poll dates are announced by the EC.

The term of the Tamil Nadu assembly ends on May 23 and Assam's assembly term ends on June 6.

In Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal, there will be total 77,246 polling booths, out of which 23,809 have been identified as 'sensitive' and 8,172 as 'highly sensitive'.

OneIndia News