NEW DELHI: The dates for the assembly elections to be held in five dates have been announced. The Election Commission announced the poll dates for five states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry.

Polls in Kerala will be held on April 6 and Tamil Nadu on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2 in all five states.

In Assam, the polls will be held in three phases. The first phase will be held on March 27, the second phase on April 1 and the third phase on April 6.
West Bengal will go to the polls in eight phases. The first phase will be on March 27. Second phase - April 1, third phase - April 6, fourth phase - April 10, fifth phase - April 17, sixth phase - April 22, seventh phase - April 26, 8th phase - April 29. Results will be declared on May 2.

In Kerala, the election notification will be issued on March 12. The last date for nominations is March 19. The scrutiny will take place on March 20 and the withdrawal date is March 22. Elections will be held in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on dates similar to Kerala.

Polls are to be held for 294 seats in West Bengal, 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, 140 seats in Kerala, 126 seats in Assam and 30 seats in the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The Election Commission said that they have taken all measures keeping in mind the COVID protocol. Full management of the security forces has been done.

There are 40,771 polling booths in the state. The number of booths increased by 89.65 percent this year. There are 140 constituencies in the state. With over 2.67 crore voters, there are 579033 new voters. 221 transgender voters are also voting this time. The final tally of voters is likely to increase. Deepak Misra will be IPS will be observer of Kerala. The bypolls in the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency will be held simultaneously on April 6.

Only two persons can accompany the candidate while filing the nominations. A maximum of 1000 voters will be allowed in a booth. COVID protocol must be strictly followed in the polling booths. An additional officer will be assigned to set up the booth. Postal voting facilities will be arranged for COVID patients, people above the age of 80 and people with disabilities.