Assembly election in four states - Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and one Union Territory Puducherry - will be held in April, May. Full schedule of Assembly elections



Dates and phases of election



Election in Assam will be held in two phases. Polling will be held on April 4. Second phase polling on April 11.

In West Bengal, election will be held in 6 phases. First phase election on April 4. Second phase voting on April 17. Voting on 62 constituencies in the third phase will be held on April 21. Fourth phase of voting will be held on April 25. In the fifth phase, election will be held on 53 constituencies on April 30. The sixth and last phase of voting will be on May 5.

Assembly election in Kerala will be held in single phase. All 140 constituencies will go to polls on May 16.



In Tamil Nadu, voting for 234 Assembly constituencies will be held on May 16. Puducherry will also go to polls on May 16.

Counting of votes in all states will be held on May 19.



Chief Election Commissioner Syed Nasim Ahmed Zaidi said that Model Code of Conduct in all the poll-bound states has come into effect with immediate effect.



Symbol for NOTA

The Election Commission in collaboration with the National Institute of Design has designed a symbol for None Of The Above Option (NOTA) option. The NOTA option will be at the end of the list featuring the names of candidates.

Photos of candidates

The Election Commission will also be providing photos of candidates on the EVMs to eliminate confusion in names.

New initiatives

The name of voters in list is mandatory, possession of ID cards is not enough. All women polling stations to be set up in the five states.

Ramps at all polling stations to ensure easy access for persons with disabilities.

Mobile squads will have GPS-fitted vehicles and be accompanied by central forces to ensure that they quickly attend to complaints.

Fact factory:

Election to be held on 824 Assembly constituencies. Kerala - 148, Tamil Nadu - 234, West Bengal - 294, Assam -126 Puducherry - 30

Around 17 crore voters will cast their vote in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Electorates in all five states:



Assam: 1.98 crore

Kerala: 2.56 crore

Tamil Nadu: 5.8 crore

West Bengal: 6.55 crore

Puducherry: 9.27

More than 7 lakh dead and duplicate entries have been removed from voters' list.

In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which ousted the Left after more than three decades in power in 2011, will seek to make a comeback. While the BJP has not been able to make much inroads in the state, the Left and the Congress are likely to contest as an alliance.

In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK will face arch rival M Karunanidhi's DMK, which is in alliance with the Congress. The BJP is in talks to partner the DMDK, led by actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth.

Kerala is expected to continue with its bipolar politics in another faceoff between the Congress-led United Democratic Front, and the Left Democratic Front. The BJP, however, is expected to make its presence felt in the state this year.

The only state that the BJP might hope to win in this round of assembly elections is Assam, where the Congress's Tarun Gogoi is currently in power. In both the 2014 Lok Sabha election and the recent local body polls, the saffron party had done well in the northeastern state.