Election Commission to announce Assembly polls schedule for five States after March 10

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India is likely to announce the schedule for Assembly elections to five states -- Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and West Bengal -- any time after March 10, as it will conclude its review visits led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

While the preparatory visits were completed in Assam, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu last month, officials said Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi are set to visit Kerala on March 6 and 7 while the one for West Bengal is fixed for March 9 and 10.

Sources said the EC is likely to announce the schedule as early as next week, as it completes the state visits to assess the ground situation. This will be the first elections in these states after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. 

The terms of Assemblies are ending on May 7 in West Bengal, May 10 in Tamil Nadu, May 20 in Assam, May 23 in Kerala and June 15 in Puducherry.

During the meetings, the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners will hold meetings with registered parties in the states.

They will also hold detailed review meetings with the heads/nodal officers of enforcement agencies, Inspectors General, Deputy Inspectors General, District Electoral Officers and Superintendent of Police among others on every aspect of election planning, EVM management, logistics, training of election staff, seizures, law and order, voter awareness and outreach activities. 

During the meeting in Assam where polls were held in three phases in 2021, parties had demanded that the polls be held in a single phase. The elections were held in a single phase in Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Kerala five years ago while Bengal went to polls in eight phases last time.

The SIR is likely to dominate this round of Assembly elections, as non-BJP parties have raised concerns over deletion of voters. 

In Assam where a Special Revision was held instead of SIR, around three lakh voters were deleted compared to the draft list.

Tamil Nadu saw 54.07 lakh voters (8.43%) being deleted after the SIR while Kerala had 8.97 lakh (3.22) voters’ names deleted and Puducherry 77,367 (7.5%).

In West Bengal, the number of voters came down from 7.66 crore to 6.44 crore, a decline of 1.21 crore, which includes 60.06 lakh voters whose inclusion is pending adjudication by Supreme Court-appointed judicial officers.