Assembly polls in four States, Puducherry begin on March 27; counting of votes on May 2
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced the poll schedule on February 26, 2021.
The Election Commission on Friday announced elections to the Assemblies of Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal, where polling would be held in eight phases.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said the votes in all five elections would be counted on May 2. Polling in Assam would be held in three phases, with voting on March 27, April 1 and April 6.
Elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would be held in a single phase, with voting on April 6.
West Bengal would see elections in eight phases, up from seven phases in the last elections, Mr. Arora said. He said advance teams of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel had been sent to all poll-bound states and UT.
In addition, he said the EC had issued a circular on February 8 for the formation of committees comprising the state’s chief electoral officer, state police nodal officer and state CAPF coordinator for coming up with the security plan and monitoring the deployment of forces. He said two special police observers had been appointed for West Bengal and two special expenditure observers for Tamil Nadu, given the concerns in the two states.
He added that the COVID-19 guidelines issued by EC in August 2020, ahead of the Bihar elections, would apply. The guidelines were being reviewed regularly, he said.
With over 18 crore electors spread over 824 Assembly constituencies, the five elections are the largest electoral process to be held during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Arora said the ongoing vaccination programme would boost the confidence of electors. He added that the EC has decided that it’s officials in the headquarters and the Commission itself would get vaccinated once the frontline poll workers recieve their vaccines.
