ECI announces election schedule for 4 states, Puducherry; two-phase polling in West Bengal

Elections to Assemblies in four states and a union territory will be held between April 9 and April 29 with West Bengal witnessing a leaner exercise with two phases instead of eight last time while others will see single phase polls.

Kerala, Assam and Puducherry will go to polling booths first on April 9 while Tamil Nadu will witness elections on April 23. Polling in West Bengal is scheduled for April 23 in 152 seats and on April 29 in 142 seats. The results will be known on May 4, the day of counting.

Announcing the schedule, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar told a press conference that A total of 17.4 crore voters are eligible to vote in elections to five assemblies with 824 constituencies. The number of voters of the four states and the union territory is equivalent to the population of Australia, France, South Africa, Germany and Canada.

The announcement of the poll schedule comes in the midst of Opposition parties submitting a notice seeking Kumar's removal accusing him of being partial towards the ruling BJP and their allegations over Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Kumar insisted that the elections in all the four states and the union territory of Puducherry will be violence-free and inducement-free and the Election Commission will take strict actions if anything to the contrary is noticed or reported. The Model Code of Conduct has also come into effect with the announcement of the polls, he said.

West Bengal with 294 seats will see a fierce contest with Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress seeking a consecutive fourth term while its main challenger BJP is hoping to tilt the balance in its favour in a state where the Congress and the Left Front are in the margins. 

Assam with 126 will see the BJP seeking a third term while Congress is working hard to overturn its electoral misfortunes of the past ten years.

MK Stalin-led DMK will be seeking a second term in the 234-strong Tamil Nadu Assembly while the AIADMK-BJP alliance is trying to challenge it even as Tamil voters will decide on how to treat superstar Vijay's newbie party TVK.

 CPI(M)-led LDF is backing on social security measures for a third term in Kerala while the Congress wants to reverse its two Assembly defeats while BJP wants a better show. All India NR Congress in Puducherry in alliance with AIADMK and BJP will face a challenge for retaining power from the DMK-Congress combine.

Kumar did not respond to questions on the notices submitted by the Opposition for his removal in Parliament but said the EC "does not wish to engage in such dialogues" with regard to statements made by "certain political leaders and parties" while referring to criticism of the poll body's functioning as well as on SIR.

"I would like to make it clear that elections in all four states and union territory of Puducherry shall be violence-free and inducement-free and EC will take strict actions if anything to the contrary is noticed or reported," he said.

Insisting that pure electoral rolls are the "bedrock of democracy", Kumar defended the SIR and said it is the EC's Constitution mandate to ensure that no eligible person is left out while no ineligible person is included in the electoral rolls. His comments came as the EC faced questions over the exercise since it was first conducted last year in Bihar.

The SIR in West Bengal has been contentious leading to the Supreme Court's intervention, which mandated that the around 60 lakh names listed under "adjudication" be decided by court-appointed judicial officers. 

Asked about such cases be disposed off before the election, he said, "as far as the supplementary list under adjudication is concerned, learned judges are looking into case by case and whichever cases are approved by them shall be included in the final electoral rolls by way of supplementary list in terms of the order of the Supreme Court."

To a query on announcements by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee just before the poll schedule announcement, he said that actions taken prior to the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct is a prerogative of the concerned governments.

"In a democratic set up, the state and central governments can take policy or other decisions which they feel is appropriate but once MCC has come into force, any decision which affects the outcome of the election or works in a way of inducement, is not allowed. The MCC has come into force just now," he said to a separate question.

When referred to controversial statements by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, he said it was "not proper" on part of the EC to comment on statements or decisions made before the elections are announced.

Referring to West Bengal elections being held in two phases instead of eight, he said the EC had held detailed deliberations and in its considered opinion, it was found necessary to reduce the number of phases and bring it down to an extent where it is convenient to everybody.

On the police officers involved in poll-related violence in the past elections in Bengal, he said a list has been sought and necessary action as per law will be taken.

Kumar also said the state nodal officers will keep a strict vigil on "misinformation and deepfakes" and take them down and file FIR against those involved.