EC may announce assembly poll schedule for five states

New Delhi: The Election Commission is expected to announce the schedule for assembly elections in five states and Union Territories – West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry – at a press conference at 4 pm today, news agency ANI reported.The date coincides with the deadline for appeals against West Bengal’s final electoral list, which was released on February 28 with over 6.4 crore voters on the list.The window for Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry to appeal against the final roll has closed. It is expected that the upcoming elections may involve fewer phases than in 2021, when West Bengal voted in eight phases, Assam in three phases and Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in one phase.

To hold elections within a shorter period of time, the Election Commission is expected to significantly increase deployment of central forces, especially in West Bengal. Reports suggest that the total strength of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) may exceed the 1,500 companies (approximately 1.40 lakh personnel) deployed for the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. About 500 companies (45,000 personnel) have been deployed in West Bengal.West Bengal and Assam are expected to go to multi-phase polls, while Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are likely to go to single-phase polls. As the term of the West Bengal Assembly is set to expire on May 7, polling in the state is likely to continue from April to early May.The Election Commission will also continue to adjudicate around 6 million “suspicious” voter cases in West Bengal, to be handled by judicial officers appointed by the Calcutta High Court, with the possibility of further appeals to the courts. Following the directions of the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, a supplementary electorate list containing sanctioned cases will be released.Meanwhile, the Election Commission has issued a notification for appointment of election officers for all 294 West Bengal constituencies after the state government agreed to provide officials with necessary qualifications. The committee will closely monitor the deployment and random assignment of CAPF and state police personnel through special observers and CAPF nodal officers.