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EC meet today to finalise poll schedule for Kerala, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry
The commission led by CEC Gyanesh Kumar is expected to return to the national capital by Tuesday night after concluding its multi-state preparedness review.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a crucial meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to finalise the election schedule and phase-wise polling plan for the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, after completing its final ground review in the poll-bound regions.
Senior ECI officials said the full bench of the Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, is expected to return to the national capital by Tuesday night after concluding its multi-state preparedness review.
“The Commission will meet on Wednesday to assess field reports submitted by state election machinery and central observers and take a final call on the number of polling phases, deployment of security forces and the detailed election schedule for all five regions,” a senior official said.
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The Commission’s visit to West Bengal marked the final leg of its nationwide review exercise ahead of the elections. During the two-day visit, the ECI held meetings with senior administrative and police officials, district magistrates and representatives of political parties to assess preparedness for conducting the polls.
Similar preparedness meetings had earlier been held in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry as part of the Commission’s standard pre-election assessment process.
Officials said the review in West Bengal focused on the progress of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, law and order arrangements in sensitive districts and the deployment strategy for central armed police forces during polling.
Under election laws, the Commission is required to conduct elections before the terms of the respective legislative assemblies expire. The tenure of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly ends on May 7, followed by Tamil Nadu on May 10, Assam on May 20, Kerala on May 23 and the Puducherry Assembly on June 15.
Once the Commission finalises and announces the election schedule, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will immediately come into force across the poll-bound states, restricting governments from announcing new schemes or making major policy decisions that could influence voters.
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Security considerations are expected to play a key role in determining the number of polling phases, particularly in West Bengal, which has historically seen multi-phase elections due to its size and security requirements. States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala have typically voted in a single phase in previous Assembly elections.
Officials said Wednesday’s meeting will consolidate inputs from all states before the Commission formally approves the final election schedule.
The central election committee of the BJP, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will finalise the names of contestants for the upcoming state elections will meet on Thursday said people aware of the details.
The CEC is expected to clear the names for all five election bounds states including West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala.
With inputs from Smriti Kak Ramachandran
