ECI announces assembly election dates for 5 states, code of conduct with immediate effect
Manipur to go for polls on January 28, 2012
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, December 24 2011: Elections to the 10th Manipur State Legislature Assembly will be held on January 28, 2012.The Election Commission of India has announced the dates for the Assembly elections in five states of India including Manipur along with Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa today.

The model code of conduct also comes into force with immediate effect.

According to the election notification issued by the Election Commission of India, Manipur will be going for the polls on January 28, 2012.While Uttar Pradesh will go for a seven-phase election, the other states including Manipur will have election in one phase.

Manipur will be the first state to vote on January 28 whereas the elections in Goa will be held on March 3.The Counting of votes in all the states will be done on March 4th while the election process shall be completed before March 9, 2012 .

The battle for Manipur is going to be a straight fight between the Congress and the Manipur People's Party (in alliance with other parties).

The voters' anger over the unprecedented economic blockade in Manipur is expected to play out in the campaigns.

It is a test of whether issues like AFSPA removal, human rights violations will impact the poll outcome.

It remains to be seen whether the Congress will gain by default, with a totally scattered opposition in fray.

Announcing the schedule for the elections, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be used in all polling booths, adding that photo identity cards for would be mandatory for all the voters.

He further said that the Income Tax department would monitor the electoral expense by all the political parties and candidates.

The candidates will have to open a new bank account from which they will manage the expense during campaigns.

For the State of Manipur the issue of notification will be on January 4, 2012 .

The last date for filling nominations is January 11, 2011 and the scrutiny of nominations will be on January 12.Last date of withdrawal of candidature is January 14 .

The 9th Manipur State Legislative Assembly will be expiring on March 15, 2012.The polls due to be held on January 28, 2012 will witness a total number of 16,77,270 electors will be exercising the franchise as per draft publication.

Photo electoral roles will be used during the assembly elections.

The photo percentages in photo electoral rolls of Manipur are 97.29.There will be 2325 polling stations in the state.

The elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 4, 8, 11, 15, 19, 23 and 28 while the polling will be done in Punjab and Uttarakhand on January 30 .

According to the CEC, monitoring committees would be established to deal with the issue of paid news.

Around 80,000 paramilitary personnel, apart from state policemen, are expected to be deployed during the Assembly polls.

It will be a four-cornered contest in Uttar Pradesh with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the race.

The Uttar Pradesh poll will be a decisive election for Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and is likely to impact the Congress strategy for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The battle for Punjab is a straight fight with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) - BJP alliance contesting elections against the Congress.

In Goa, it will be a face off between the Congress and the BJP.

The battle for Uttarakhand will also be a straight fight for the Congress and the BJP.

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