Elections in four states may get delayed as preparation still underway

New Delhi, Sep 1: The Election Commission of India (ECI) seems unprepared to conduct Assembly elections in four states - Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mijoram on time. The elections in all likelihood will be held only after January-February ultimately making the chances of holding elections in these states along with the general elections.

A source in the Election Commission of India said that officials of the elections commission including Chief Election Commissioner are visiting various states and recently CEC visited Madhya Pradesh. These officials have to visit these states once again. So the entire exercise will take the entire month of September. The month of October is full of vacations and festivals with October 2 being the National Holiday. Navratra begins on October 10 with Dussera (Vijaydasmi) on October 19 and Deepawali is on November 7. November is the month when crops are sown and harvested in Madhya Pradesh.

The election commission source said that there is some Muslim congregation in Madhya Pradesh in November that is also being taken into consideration as election requires deployment of lots of police forces. So the entire month of November for elections is also ruled out. December and January is the time when schools teachers cannot be disturbed for their engagement with students and February is the time for examinations and lots of school buildings may be required for security personal and Para military forces.

So looking at the present preparations of the election commission, elections are not possible before February 2019. If the elections are deferred till February 2019, it is likely that they might be held in April 2019. The government has been trying to hold elections of as much states as possible with the Lok Sabha. So the government might conduct elections of some-BJP ruled state with the Lok Sabha. If sources are to be believed, election of Haryana and Jharkhand might also be considered to be held along with the Lok Sabha.