The Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced the dates for the Assembly Elections in West Bengal, Assam, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Friday (February 26). West Bengal will go to the polls starting March 27 in eight phases.
West Bengal Assembly elections to be held in eight phases from March 27. The second phase of polling will take place on April 1, the third phase on April 6, the fourth phase on April 10, the fifth phase of polling will take place on April 17 and the sixth phase polling will take place on April 22, the seventh phase on April 26 and the eighth and final phase polling will take place on April 29.
Assam Assembly elections to be held in three phases from March 27.
Kerala Assembly elections to be held in a single phase on April 6.
Tamil Nadu Assembly elections to be held in a single phase on April 6.
Puducherry elections to be held in a single phase on April 6.
The date of counting for all the states is May 2.
The West Bengal Assembly has a total of 294 seats and the term of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government comes to an end on May 30. Apart from West Bengal, the tenure of the state governments in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry are ending in May and June. In Puducherry, the President's rule has been imposed after the Congress-led government fell following Chief Minister V Narayanasamy's resignation before the vote of confidence.
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.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, elections will be held simultaneously in several states for the first time. Given the state of the pandemic, the number of polling stations in these states is likely to increase. Earlier, the Election Commission organized the assembly elections in Bihar in October-November last year, where the number of polling stations was increased to ensure social distancing.
