In the event of an early election, the Election Commission will not need more than six weeks to get ready for the polls, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami told Hindustan Times.
Though it would be difficult to hold elections in the next two months due to the monsoon and floods in parts of the country, the EC would get six months to complete the process of elections, an expert said.
At present, the EC is busy with implementing the changes necessitated by the delimitation notification that came into effect from February 19. Gopalaswami said: “Constituencies have to be redrawn and consequently, electoral rolls have to be changed. The recent Karnataka elections were held with delimited constituencies.”
The government could still complete its full term even if it is reduced to a minority. However, it can be defeated on the basis of a motion of no-confidence. Even then, the President must be satusfied that there are no options available for a stable alternative government from within the existing Lok Sabha before calling for polls.