New Delhi, March 15: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday announced the assembly election schedule for five states. Voting will be held in a single phase on April 9 in Puducherry, Kerala, and Assam. Voting in Tamil Nadu will be held in a single phase on April 23. Voting in West Bengal will be held in two phases, on April 23 and 29. The election results for all states will be declared on May 4.
The Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced this at a press conference held at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi at 4 pm today, stating that approximately 174 million voters will exercise their franchise in the five states concerned. Approximately 2.19 lakh polling stations will be set up for the 824 assembly seats. To ensure the successful completion of this entire election process, approximately 2.5 million election personnel will be deployed.
According to the Commission, the terms of the Legislative Assemblies of the five states are ending on different dates. The term of the West Bengal Assembly will end on May 7, while the term of the Tamil Nadu Assembly ends on May 10. The term of the Assam Assembly will end on May 20, and the term of the Kerala Assembly will end on May 23. The term of the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Puducherry ends on June 15.
In terms of assembly seats, out of a total of 824 seats, Assam has 126, Kerala has 140, Puducherry has 30, Tamil Nadu has 234, and West Bengal has 294. Many seats in these states are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. 9 SC and 19 ST seats are reserved in Assam, 14 SC and 2 ST seats in Kerala, 5 SC seats in Puducherry, 44 SC and 2 ST seats in Tamil Nadu and 68 SC and 16 ST seats in West Bengal.
According to the number of voters, approximately 2.50 crore voters will cast their votes in Assam, approximately 2.70 crore in Kerala, approximately 9.44 lakh in Puducherry, approximately 5.67 crore in Tamil Nadu and approximately 6.44 crore voters in West Bengal. The Election Commission has said that all necessary preparations have been completed to conduct peaceful and fair elections.