Assembly polls in 5 states, Puducherry on Apr 9, 23: CEC

New Delhi, Mar 15: The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for Assembly elections in five states and the Union Territory of Puducherry, with polling set to begin from April 9 and counting of votes scheduled for May 4.
Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, the electoral exercise will cover Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry.
“The festival of elections, our pride, is going to be held in the states of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Puducherry. The total electors are 17.4 crore and the assembly constituencies are 824. The number of polling stations is roughly 2.19 lakh and the electoral machinery would consist of around 25 lakh personnel,” Kumar said.
Giving details of voters, he said Assam has around 2.25 crore electors, Kerala about 2.7 crore, Puducherry around 9.44 lakh, Tamil Nadu nearly 5.67 crore and West Bengal approximately 6.44 crore voters.
“We also have centenarian voters in all these states and UTs. A total of about 2.18 lakh polling stations will be set up, most of them in rural areas. The average number of voters per polling station will be between 750 and 850,” he added.
The CEC further said model polling stations will be established across the states and the UT, including special polling stations managed by women and also those run by persons with disabilities. “Webcasting will be done in 100 percent polling stations,” he said.
According to the poll schedule announced by the Commission, voting in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will be held on April 9, while Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 23. In West Bengal, polling will be conducted in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes for all states and the UT will take place on May 4, the Commission said. (KNC)