New Delhi, March 2, (IANS): The Election Commission on Tuesday announced Assembly poll schedules for Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal in which overseas Indians could also exercise their franchise for the first time. 

While Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will go to the polls on April 13, elections in Assam will be held in two phases on April 4 and 11.

West Bengal, where law and order situation continues to be a concern following a spurt in political and Maoist violence in the recent months, will witness elections in six phases. Poll will be conducted in the Left-ruled state on April 18, 23, 27, May 3, 7 and 10. Counting of votes in the four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry will take place on May 13.

“The model code of conduct comes into effect immediately from now onwards,” Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said while announcing the poll schedules.
The terms of assemblies in  Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal will expire on May 16, May 23, and June 11 respectively. The tenure of Assam and Puducherry’s assemblies expires on May 28.

West Bengal has 294 Assembly constituencies,  Tamil Nadu  234, Kerala 140, Puducherry 30 and Assam 126.

The elections involve over 14.39 crore electorate with West Bengal having the largest number of over 5.60 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu where the number of electorates stands at about 4.59 crore. Kerala has 2.29 crore electors and Assam 1.81 crore.

Puducherry consists of  over 8 lakh voters. Polling will be held through electronic voting machines (EVMs). In Assam, the notifications for the first phase will be issued on March 10. The last date for filing nominations will be March 17 with scrutiny of nomination the following day. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature will be March 21. The notification for the second phase of polling in Assam will be issued on March 18. The last date for filing nominations will be March 25 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature March 28.

In Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, poll notifications will be issued on March 19. The last date for filing nominations will be March 26, scrutiny on March 28 and the last date for withdrawal March 30. In West Bengal, the notification for the first phase will be issued on March 24, second phase March 30, third phase April 2, fourth phase April 7, fifth phase April 11 and sixth on April 14.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature will be April 4, 9, 13, 18, 21 and 25 for the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth phases respectively.

To a question on why elections are being conducted in six phases in Bengal, Quraishi said a decision was taken in this regard keeping in view the “ground realities”. The polls will dominantly involve the Left, Congress and regional parties like the Trinamool, AGP, DMK and AIADMK.  The keenest battle is expected in Bengal where the Left which has been in power since 1977 now faces a serious challenge from the Trinamool.