Assembly polls in 2 phases

The Election Commission (EC), which has drawn up a tentative calender for the polls to the Karnataka legislative assembly, is considering to hold polls in two phases, on May 7 and May 14. A formal notification to this effect is likely to be issued on April 10.

EC sources, who did not want to be identified, said the on-going exercise to prepare fresh electoral rolls as per the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission for all the 29 districts will be completed by March 15.

Deputy Election Commissioner Jai P Prakash, who is in Bangalore to monitor the poll preparation work, will soon submit a report to the chief election commissioner, the sources said.

Of the 224 assembly constituencies in the state, 120 constituencies will go to polls in the first phase and the remaining 104 in the second phase.

While the tentative date for counting of votes is May 20, the entire election exercise is expected to be completed by May 25 "" three days before the end of the President's Rule in the state.

If the tentative calendar is approved by the EC head honchos in New Delhi, it will put an end to speculations in political circles over elections being postponed.

In fact, when chief election commissioner N Gopalswami visited the state recently, three of the seven political parties in the state appealed to him to defer the elections citing lack of clarity in the new electoral rolls.