EC may hold assembly polls in 5 states together

The Election Commission is looking at the possibility of holding assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana together and the poll process in the five states could be completed by the second week of December, a senior poll panel functionary said Wednesday.

Going by past poll schedules, while Chhattisgarh could have polls in two phases, in the remaining states the exercise could be completed in a single phase, he said.

Stepping up preparations for conducting assembly elections in Telangana, the Commission had announced on Saturday that the final voter list will be published on October 8.

The poll panel has suspended an ongoing process of revision of electoral rolls in the wake of the premature dissolution of the state assembly and declared a new schedule for revision.

Under the new schedule, the integrated draft electoral roll will be published on September 10.

Claims and objections can be filed from September 10 to September 25 while disposal of claims and objections will be taken up on October 4. Updation of database and printing of supplement will be completed before October 7.

October 8 will be the date for final publication of the electoral roll, which means elections may be held any time after that date.

After the new roll is published, the EC is legally ready to announce the poll schedule, the functionary said.

The Telangana cabinet had on Thursday last recommended the dissolution of the state Assembly. The term of the House was to otherwise end in June 2019.

While the term of Mizoram Assembly ends on December 15, the terms of the legislative assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan end on January 5, 2019, January 7, 2019 and January 20, 2019 respectively.

Since the plan is to hold all the elections together, the exercise has to be completed well before December 15 so that the next Mizoram assembly can be constituted before that date, the functionary explained.