Assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Union Territory of Pondicherry will be held simultaneously and the schedule will be decided after a thorough assessment of the overall situation, Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon said on Wednesday.
The Commission plans to hold simultaneous elections in these states, where the terms of the assemblies are expiring between May 25 and June 30, he told a press meet in Thiruvananthapuram.
Tandon, who reviewed the situation in Kerala and elicited views of major political parties, said the state government had suggested two-phase polling for Kerala.
Different political parties had made their suggestions regarding the poll dates in Kerala but the EC will take a decision after considering all other aspects, the CEC said.
Photo-affixed electoral rolls will be used in all the constituencies in Kerala and Pondicherry, he said, adding that there will be extensive videography of polling stations and digital cameras will be installed in booths in sensitive areas.
Tandon said the revised electoral rolls for Kerala will be published later this month. The inclusion and updation process will, however, go on till the last date of filing of nominations.
As per the electoral rolls published in January 2005, the state had 2.07 crore voters. After that, 12.4 lakh applications were received out of which 8.4 lakh were accepted. The state will have a total of 20,313 polling stations and will be provided with new Electronic Voting Machines replacing all the existing 26,500 EVMs.
Tandon said there was no truth in reports that the Election Commission had directed officials to set certain limits in inclusion of voters. "No direction has been issued. All eligible voters would be included," he said.
Central government employees will also be drafted for conducting elections alongwith the state government staff. The district collectors had been asked to set up grievance cells in all districts to receive complaints and views regarding the conduct of the elections.