The electoral commission has announced the dates for the general elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, West Bengal and Assam.
Elections for the 234 seats in Tamil Nadu; 140 in Kerala and 30 in Pondicherry will be held in a single phase on April 6th.
For West Bengal, the elections for the 294 seats will take place in eight phases. The elections begin on March 27th and the final phase on April 29th. The elections in Assam for 126 seats will take place from April 1st to April 16th in three phases.
The count of votes for all four states and an area of the Union will take place on May 2, Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner, said on Friday.
CEC also announced that by-elections to some parliamentary seats, including Kanyakumari, Tirupati and Belgaum, will take place along with the gathering’s polls, but the schedule will be announced later, he said.
Over 18.68 crore voters are eligible to vote in the upcoming state polls, Arora said.
More polling stations
He added that all polling stations will be on the ground floor and that polling stations have increased in all four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
While Tamil Nadu with 88,936 polling stations will see an increase of 34.73 percent, Kerala will see an increase of 89.65 percent at 1,11,916 and Puducherry with 1,559 polling stations an increase of 63 percent.
Arora said work on holding the parliamentary elections began with the planning of the Bihar elections when meetings were held with paramilitary forces and the railways, whose help will be needed for these elections to run smoothly. Bihar went to the polls late last year.
Spending cap
The maximum money any candidate can campaign to spend has been set at £ 22 for each constituency in Puducherry, while it is £ 38 for the other four state assemblies.
The current term of office of the Tamil Nadu Assembly ends on May 24th, the Assam Assembly on May 31st, and the West Bengal Assembly on May 30th. The term of office of the present Congregation is June 1st for Kerala and June 8th for Puducherry.
Code of Conduct
With the announcement of the coordination plan, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into effect immediately. The MCC is an EC document that sets the minimum standards of conduct for political parties and their candidates who take part in elections, by defining their advantages and disadvantages in the election campaign.
The MCC sets good standards of conduct covering eight areas of election campaigning, including the general conduct of candidates and their meetings / processions, the appointment of observers, the maintenance of voting booths on election day, and what will be included in the political parties’ electoral manifestos should.
The elections in West Bengal will take place from March 27 to April 29 in eight phases. The elections in Assam will take place from April 1st to 16th in three phases.
LIVE: #ElectionCommissionOfIndia Announces Schedule for General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. # AssemblyElections2021 #ECI https://t.co/yS9EwLsH5w
– Indian Electoral Commission #SVEEP (@ECISVEEP) February 26, 2021
