Assembly polls in 5 states from April 4 to 16, counting on May

The elections to five state assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry will be held between April 4 and May 16 and counting of votes on May 19, the Election Commission announced today.
Assam will go to polls in two phases on April 4 and 11 while election in West Bengal will be held in six phases on April 4 and 11 (under Phase one), 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5.
The single-phase elections for Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assemblies will be held on May 16, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told a press conference here.

Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry assemblies have 126, 140, 234, 294 and 30 constituencies respectively.
The elections will also see for the first time a symbol, which has been created by the National School of Design, allotted to NOTA (None of the above) that will be placed at the bottom of the list of candidates.
Noting that voters are in the focus of the Commission, Zaidi said all booths will have seven basic facilities and there will also be all-women polling booths.

(Reopens NRG 17)
The affidavit is in compliance with a Delhi High Court
ruling in this regard and failure to file it will lead to defects of substantial nature during scrutiny of nomination papers, Zaidi said.

As part of another first of its kind initiative, the EC will accept online the service votes of defence, para-military personnel and those posted in missions abroad. This comes after the success of an experiment in Puducherry.
Zaidi said VVPAT machines will be used in increasing number in select areas during these assembly polls and Goa will be saturated with VVPAT.
While Electronic Voting Machines will be used in all polling stations, the ballot paper on EVM machines will for the first time carry photographs of candidates along with their names and poll symbols.
The Commission will issue photo voter slips to voters ahead of polls and will for the first time also distribute a colourful booklet that will guide the voters on date and time of polls and location of polling stations, besides Dos and Don'ts for them.

To encourage more participation of women in election management, the EC will also have some all-woman polling stations this time around, besides making all polling stations disabilities-friendly.
The tenure of Punjab, Goa and Manipur assemblies are ending on March 18, while that of Uttarakhand will end on March 26 and Uttar Pradesh Assembly on May 27.
Of the total 690 constituencies going to polls in these five states, 133 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 23 for Scheduled Tribes.