EC Eyes April for Elections in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry

New Delhi: The Election Commission is likely to conduct Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry in April, the announcement is expected in mid-March. Elections could take place on different dates in April, sources said. The terms of the five assemblies end on different dates in May and June.

While the five-year term of the Puducherry Assembly ends on June 15, the terms of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal assemblies end on May 20, 23, 10 and June 7 respectively. The poll panel has already started touring the poll-bound states and is touring Assam to assess poll preparedness.

Last time, Assembly polls in West Bengal were held in eight phases. In Assam, elections were held in two phases, and in a single phase in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

Of the poll-bound assemblies, Puducherry was the first one to publish its final electoral roll on February 14 as part of the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Tamil Nadu will publish its post-SIR final poll roll on February 23, while Kerala will do so on February 21. West Bengal's final voters' list will be published on February 28. In Assam, where a 'special revision' of electoral rolls took place in place of SIR, the final list was published on February 10.