New Delhi: The polling dates for the state assembly and Lok Sabha could be announced any time between this weekend and coming Tuesday.
The elections are likely to be spread over 7-8 phases spread out between April and May, news agency PTI said quoting sources in the Election Commission.
Some reports suggested that the Election Commission team, which paid a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir and returned back on Wednesday, is likely to hold one more round of meeting with the Home Ministry about holding state assembly elections there simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls. Once a decision is made, the Commission will call a press conference to announce the election dates.
Election dates for the 2014 elections were declared on March 5 that year. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.
“A senior election commission functionary said the poll panel is now prepared to announce the dates any day and it could happen over the weekend or at most by Tuesday,” PTI said.
Notification for the first phase could be issued by the end of March for voting some time in early April, it said quoting sources.
Elections to the state assembly in Odisha along with states such as Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh are slated to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls.
The commission has held several review meetings across the country in the last few weeks to gear up its machinery. The required EVMs and paper trail machines are in place to be deployed in nearly 10 lakh polling stations across 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.
