Poll dates likely in first week of January
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, December 22 2021: The Election Commission of India is likely to announce election schedules for five poll-bound states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur - in the first week of January.

In the run-up to the election, the Commission has begun its customary visits to the election-Jjound states from Wednesday, starting with Punjab, to assess poll preparedness and discuss related issues with the stakeholders before it finalises the poll schedule.

Sources said that an official team o'f the Commission, which comprises chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and election commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, is likely to visit Goa and then Uttarakhand next week.

EC has already asked the poll-bound states to expedite publication of the updated rolls with January 1, 2022 as the reference date.

EC usually prefers to wait until the revised rolls are published for all the election-bound states, before going ahead with the poll announcement, though this is not obligatory.

Election Commission undertakes visits to poll-bound states to gather inputs from the state administration about factors such as local festivals, weather conditions, agricultural cycles, law and order situation along with the requirement of central forces and Covid protocols, and also to hear political parties on election-related concerns.

A final meeting is also held with the home ministry brass to assess the availability of central forces for elections.

All these discussions help the EC in finalising the dates as well as the number of phases over which polling will be spread.

As per indications, actual polling may begin sometime in February and going by the past precedents, the assembly poll in UP may well stretch over nearly 6-8 phases lasting almost a month.

As per the law, EC can hold polls in a state anytime within six months prior to the end of term of the existing assembly.

The terms of assemblies in the five poll-bound states are expiring between March 15 and May 14 next year.

Since it is a standard practice for EC to club polls in states where the dates of expiry of their respective assemblies are close together, the poll panel will be bringing forward polls in UP, due only on May 14, 2022, by a couple of months.

EC will look to complete polling for all the states at least a week before March 15, 2020 .

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