The Election Commission of India announced the election dates for Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry today.
The poll panel at a press conference at 4.30 pm in Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan declared the schedule for elections to the legislative assemblies of the five states.
The states are due for elections in April-May.
Adequate CAPFs deployment shall be ensured during elections. All critical, vulnerable polling stations identified and an adequate number of CAPFs will be deployed: Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner.
The EC held a meeting on Wednesday to finalise the dates of the upcoming Assembly elections in these states and the union territory.
This is the first major set of elections to be held in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic after the Bihar election.
Polls are to be held for 294 seats in West Bengal, 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, 140 seats in Kerala, 126 seats in Assam and 30 seats in Puducherry.
The Election Commission is expected to implement a similar protocol for voting.
The election campaign in the poll-bound states has already started with leaders from different political parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressing public rallies.
Guidelines by EC for upcoming elections
Guidelines to be followed for the upcoming elections:
*Door-to-door campaigning to be restricted to five persons including candidate.
*Roadshows allowed
*Separate norms for suspected Covid-19 patients.
*Polling officials to be vaccinated.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that as many as 18.68 crore electors will cast their votes at 2.7 lakh polling stations in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry
In Puducherry, however, President’s Rule has been imposed after the V Narayanasamy-led Congress government resigned earlier this week ahead of a vote of confidence.
The counting of votes for all states will be held on May 2.
