New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) may announce the polling schedule for Assembly elections in four States and one Union Territory (UT)
next month in March, PTI quoted sources as saying. States including West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry could go for elections in April, for which the schedule can be made public in the middle of next month. They said the Election Commission would announce the dates of the assembly polls together "sometime in middle of March" and elections could take place on different dates in April. The terms of the five assemblies end on different dates in May and June. While the five-year term of Puducherry ends on June 15, the terms of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal end on May 20, 23, 10 and seven respectively.
Election Body Starts Visiting Poll-Bound States
The poll authority has already started touring the poll-bound states and is already in Assam to assess poll preparedness.
Last time, assembly polls in West Bengal were held in eight phases -- by far the maximum. In Assam, elections were held in two phases, and in a singular phase in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
Of the poll-bound assemblies, Puducherry was the first one to publish its final electoral roll on February 14 as part of the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls.
Tamil Nadu will publish its post-SIR final poll roll on Tuesday, while Kerala will do so on February 21. West Bengal's final voters' list will be published on February 28.
In Assam, where a 'special revision' of electoral rolls took place in place of SIR, the final list was published on February 10.
With inputs from PTI
