Speculation Over Date Of Assam Polls Continues

In poll-bound Assam, while top-notch politicians across the country are visiting the state to campaign for their respective parties, the possible date for the assembly elections is still looming in the dark.

As the term of the 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly will come to an end on May 31 this year, the elections are tentatively slated to be held in April and May.

However, speculations among the virtual community have surfaced about the election date. In the last two weeks news have been circulating across social media claiming that the Election Commission has announced the dates for the Assam Assembly elections.

As per the fake claim, the Election Commission of India has announced April 4 and April 11 as the election dates for Assam Elections 2021. Press Information Bureau fact-checked and debunked the disinformation stating no such announcements have been made by Election Commission of India. In spite of clarifications made, the post is still under circulation.

Coming to speculation of dates, the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sunil K Arora, along with election commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar during a recent visit to the state to review the poll preparedness announced that the assembly elections in the state will be over before May 4, before the Central Board of Secondary Education exams that is scheduled to commence from May 4 onwards.

Meanwhile, during the EC's visit, political parties in the state urged the Commission to conduct the assembly elections in the state in three phases, and preferably before Rongali Bihu festival in April. The EC replied, "We have already taken the festival into consideration before coming here for the review meetings".

Infact, keeping in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic outbreak, the EC informed that "In view of Covid social distancing norms, the [Election] Commission has specifically revisited some existing norms," Arora said, according to ANI. "As a result, the maximum number of electors at a polling station has been reduced from 1,500 to 1,000. Accordingly for Assam, the number of polling stations would go up by about 5,000 and are likely to be more than 33,000 for forthcoming elections," he added.

Meanwhile, the EC held a series of meetings under the chief election commissioner between February 12 and 20 to discuss holding assembly polls in Assam along with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal.

However, as per latest reports published by various media outlets, the election schedule for all the states and Puducherry is likely to be announced by the end of February or in the first week of March.