EC working on poll dates for five states

The first five months of 2012 would be busy for Election Commission as it is looking at holding elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand in mid-January and in Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur in April-May.

Updated on: Oct 13, 2011, 21:12:50 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Share via

Copy link

The first five months of 2012 would be busy for Election Commission as it is looking at holding elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand in mid-January and in Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur in April-May.

Although the commission has not finalised the schedule for the elections, government officials do not rule out the probability of conducting the elections in one go in smaller states of Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand.

But, elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh may be spread over more than one phase for better management of elections. Holding elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are more complex than in other states because of the large number of voters, an official explained.

Uttar Pradesh is expected to have 11.1 crore voters whereas Punjab would have 3.12 crore voters for 2012 elections. In other states the number of voters is relatively less. Uttarakhand would be about 55 lakh voters whereas Goa has 11 lakh voters.

The EC has, however, directed the poll bound state chief electoral officers (CEOs) to revise the electoral rolls and the new rolls are to be finalized by end of this December so that the election process can start from January.

Officials said the commission has already held several rounds of talks with the CEOs for holding free and fair elections in a peaceful atmosphere. The CEO have also been directed to hold voter awareness campaigns first for enrolment in the voters list and then for exercising franchise.

Our past experience has shown that awareness campaigns lead to increase in voting percentages, an official said, pointing out record voting in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal this year.

To check influence of money in polls, the CEOs have already been directed to monitor flow of money and advertisement in newspapers. The EC wants that the government to ban any advertisement in newspapers six months before the scheduled elections but its proposal is yet to be accepted by the government.

The year 2012 will also witness elections for the post of President and vice-president of India in June.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.