There are a total of 17.4 crore eligible voters participating in these Assembly elections across the states and the UT.
Chief Election Commissioner of India, Gyanesh Kumar, on Sunday announced the schedule for the upcoming Assembly elections in five states and one Union Territory during a press conference held in the afternoon.
As per the announcement, voting for all 126 Assembly seats in Assam will be held on April 9, with vote counting scheduled for May 4.
Additionally, voting for all seats in Kerala and Puducherry will also be conducted on April 9, while all seats in Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 23.
Likewise, in the state of West Bengal, the polls will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29, unlike in the past when elections were conducted in eight phases. The CEC said it was found necessary to reduce the number of phases and that the Commission had held detailed deliberations on the matter.
Counting of votes for all 824 seats across the four states and one UT will take place on May 4.
There are a total of 17.4 crore eligible voters participating in these Assembly elections across the states and the UT.
A total of 717 EVM demonstration centres were set up to spread awareness about Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the poll-bound states and the UT, with over 28.7 lakh people participating in these initiatives.
CEC Gyanesh Kumar stated that all statistics relating to the elections will be made available through ECINet within 72 hours after the completion of counting.
He also stated that postal ballots will be counted two rounds before the EVMs to enhance transparency.
“In case of any difference because of typographical errors between 17C, which is given at the polling stations to all the polling agents who are present and the EVM count, if there is a difference, the VVPATs of that EVM shall be counted. Similarly, after the counting is over, the losing candidate can prefer, after prescribed payment of fee, checking of the EVM along with VVPAT counting,” he added.
Meanwhile, regarding the Model Code of Conduct, the commissioner said it is now in force, noting that any decision that affects the outcome of the election is not allowed.
Governments can take policy decisions in their wisdom before the announcement of the polls, but any inducement is not allowed during the Model Code, he added.
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