The Election Commission of India (EC) called for one last important meeting on Thursday, ahead of assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. According to sources, a team of officials have visited both the states and taken stock of the preparations there.
They will brief the commission about the arrangements and further steps to be taken in both states. Both Maharashtra and Haryana are set to vote in the third week of October. Sources said that the entire polling and counting process in both states may be completed before Diwali festivities.
While the voters in the latter state will line up at the booth in a single phase, the electoral process in the former is likely to be spread over two to three phases.
There is an indication that the Assembly elections in Jharkhand will be deferred to December and may also be in phases due to the threat posed by left-wing extremism threat and deployment of security forces in the area.
Currently, the governments in all three states are led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The EC has held several rounds of meetings with state entities and home ministry officials on security assessment and deployment of paramilitary forces during elections.
—Zee Media Newsroom
