Election Commission Prepones Results For Arunachal, Sikkim Assembly Polls, Counting On June 2 Now, Not June 4

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday announced a big change in the dates of results for the Assembly elections for Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim Assembly. As per the announcement, the counting of votes will be held on June 2, instead of June 4 which was announced earlier.

Notably, the change in date for results is for assembly elections only, and results for Parliamentary seats will be announced on the same day, June 4 along with the rest of the General Election results.

A day ago, while addressing the nation, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced the dates of polling and results of 543 Lok Sabha seats and four state assemblies. However, the dates for results for Lok Sabha will remain the same.

Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be held on May 13, and April 19, respectively.

The decision was made in the light of Article 324, Article 172(1) of the Constitution of India, and Section 15 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which says that the Election Commission should conduct the polls before the cessation of their respective terms for the legislative assemblies, which are ending on June 2.

The CEC announced that Lok Sabha elections will be held in 7 phases between April 19 to June 1 across the nation.

It was expected that the Election Commission would also announce dates for assembly elections for Jammu and Kashmir, but the poll body did not make any announcement for the hilly state.

When a reporter asked the chief elections commissioner "When will Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh go under polling, and why the commission is not conducting elections in union territories along with four states, despite court's order", Rajiv Kumar replied that he had a word with Election Commission officials, and citing security reasons in region, it was collectively decided to conduct assembly elections in J&K and Ladakh after Lok Sabha elections.