Security personnel patrol forward of the scheduled announcement of dates by the Election Commission for the West Bengal Assembly polls, in Birbhum district, West Bengal, on March 3, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Election Commission of India will go to Kerala and West Bengal on March 6-7 and March 9-10, respectively, to evaluate preparedness for the upcoming Assembly polls. Sources mentioned the ballot schedule will be introduced any time after the West Bengal go to.
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The Commission has already visited poll-bound Tamil Nadu, Assam, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
During the go to, the total Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, will maintain conferences with registered political events within the States in addition to with the heads/nodal officers of enforcement businesses, Inspectors General, Deputy Inspectors General, District Electoral Officers, and Superintendents of Police amongst others on election planning, EVM administration, logistics, coaching of election workers, seizures, regulation and order, voter consciousness and outreach actions.
The phrases of the Assemblies in all these States finish between May and June. The West Bengal Assembly’s time period will get over on May 7, Tamil Nadu’s on May 10, Assam’s on May 20, Kerala’s on May 23, and Puducherry’s on June 15.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was performed below Phase 2 in all of the poll-bound States barring Assam the place a Special Revision was accomplished on account of authorized problems associated to the unpublished National Register of Citizens.
Following the SIR, the variety of voters has gone down in Tamil Nadu (11.55%), Kerala (3.22%), West Bengal (8%) and Puducherry (7.57%).
While ultimate voter lists have been revealed in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam, in West Bengal the checklist launched on February 28 has greater than 60 lakh voters marked as below “adjudication” whose instances are being determined by court-appointed judicial officers. These voters will likely be added to the ultimate checklist when their names are cleared; they’ll vote within the Assembly polls after that.
Last month, the Calcutta High Court knowledgeable the Supreme Court that it was not doable for its restricted variety of judicial officers to promptly adjudicate greater than 60 lakh voter claims, arising out of “logical discrepancy” or for remaining “unmapped”, through the SIR in West Bengal following which the highest courtroom allowed deploying judges from neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand.
Published – March 03, 2026 08:32 pm IST
