Assembly Elections 2026: Important meeting of ECI in Delhi, complete schedule of voting of 5 states will be decided today

New Delhi: Preparations have intensified for the assembly elections to be held in five states of the country in the coming months. In this series, the Election Commission of India is going to hold an important meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. In this meeting, finalization of election schedule and voting phases for West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will be discussed. It is believed that the Commission may soon announce the election dates, after which the Model Code of Conduct will also be implemented in the respective states.

According to senior officials of the Election Commission, the full bench of the Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will attend this meeting. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi will also be present in the commission. Officials said that after reviewing the ground reports received from all the states and administrative preparations, the final decision on the number of phases of voting, security arrangements and the entire election schedule will be taken.

According to a senior official, the field reports sent by the state election machinery and central observers will be analyzed in detail. On the basis of this, it will be decided in how many phases voting will be conducted in which state and how security forces will be deployed.

Review process completed with West Bengal tour

The Election Commission’s visit to West Bengal is being considered as the last phase of this election review process. During this two-day visit, the Commission interacted with senior administrative officials of the state, police officers, district magistrates and representatives of various political parties. The purpose of these meetings was to take stock of the preparations for holding elections in the state. The Commission specifically discussed issues such as intensive revision of voter lists, security of sensitive areas and deployment of central forces during voting. Earlier, the Commission had also conducted similar review meetings in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

Special attention will be paid to security and phased voting

Officials say that while deciding the voting stages, security arrangements will be given utmost importance. Especially in West Bengal, voting has traditionally been conducted in several phases, because the size of the state is large and some areas require additional security. Whereas in states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, voting is usually completed in a single phase. Therefore, the voting process is likely to be relatively simple in these states.

When is the term of the assembly ending?

According to election laws, it is mandatory for the Election Commission to conduct elections before the end of the tenure of the respective assemblies.
The tenure of West Bengal Assembly will end on May 7.
The tenure of Tamil Nadu Assembly is till May 10.
The tenure of Assam Assembly will end on May 20.
The tenure of Kerala Assembly will last till May 23.
The tenure of Puducherry Assembly will end on June 15.
For this reason, the Commission is making final preparations towards holding elections on time.

When will the code of conduct come into force?

As soon as the Election Commission officially announces the election schedule, the Model Code of Conduct will come into force in the respective states. After this, state governments will not be able to announce new schemes and will not be able to take major policy decisions that can influence voters.

BJP’s Central Election Committee will also hold a meeting

Meanwhile, amidst the election preparations, Bharatiya Janata Party is also speeding up the process of selection of its candidates. According to the information, the party’s Central Election Committee will meet on Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In this meeting, the names of possible candidates from all the election states including West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry can be finalized.