Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday announced that West Bengal's 294 constituencies would be going to the polls in two phases.
The first phase of voting will take place in 152 constituencies on April 23, while the second phase will take place in 142 constituencies on April 29, he said.
Elections are due in four other States/Union Territories as well, including Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, whose Legislative Assembly terms are set to expire in May-June this year. Votes will be counted for all five regions—comprising 824 constituencies—on May 4.
VIDEO | ECI Press Conference: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar (@ECISVEEP) says, “The festival of elections, our pride, is going to be held in the state of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the union territory of Puducherry. The total electors are 17.4 crores.… pic.twitter.com/5NaBfeXzo1
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The CEC said in a briefing that voting across the five states/UTs will take place over 2.19 lakh polling stations, handled by over 25 lakh polling officers.
With the announcement of poll dates at the official presser, the elections have formally begun, with the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) now in force.
"Pure electoral rolls form bedrock of our democracy; no eligible elector should be left out and no ineligible voter should be included," he said at the presser.
Caalling the polls India's "Festival of Democracy", the CEC congratulated booth-level officers (BLOs) for their work during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.
(More details are awaited.)
