Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Assembly elections would be held in a single phase in Assam, Puducherry and Kerala on April 9 and in Tamil Nadu on April 23, while West Bengal will vote on April 23 and April 29, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on March 16.
Counting for all four States and the Union Territory of Puducherry would be held on May 4. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into effect immediately with the announcement of the poll schedule. CEC Gyanesh Kumar said a total of 17.4 crore electors will vote in 824 Assembly constituencies across these four States and one UT. Around 25 lakh polling personnel would be deployed at 2.19 lakh polling stations.
The term of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, which has 234 seats, gets over on May 10, while that of Kerala, which has 140 seats, gets over on May 23. Assam has 126 constituencies, and the term of its Assembly ends on May 20, while the 294-seat West Bengal Assembly completes its term on May 7. The term of the 30-seat Puducherry Assembly ends on June 15.
In West Bengal, 152 constituencies will vote in the first phase and 142 in the second. The ECI also announced by-polls to eight Assembly constituencies. By-elections to five seats—Ponda in Goa, Bagalkot and Davanagere South in Karnataka, Koridang in Nagaland and Dharmanagar in Tripura—will be held on April 9. Elections in three other constituencies—Umreth in Gujarat, and Rahuri and Baramati in Maharashtra—will be conducted on April 23. Counting of votes for the bye-elections will also be held on May 4.
