Assembly Elections 2026: EC announces dates for 4 States, Puducherry

New-Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) announces the poll schedules for assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Keralam and Puducherry during a press conference today.

The voting set to begin on April 9 and counting of votes scheduled for May 4. According to the poll panel, elections in Assam, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry will be held in a single phase on April 9. Polling in Tamil Nadu will take place on April 23.

Meanwhile, elections in West Bengal will be conducted in two phases, with voting scheduled for April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes for all states and the Union Territory will take place on May 4, the Commission said.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday said the upcoming Assembly elections will feature extensive arrangements to ensure accessibility and transparency, while highlighting the diverse profile of the electorate.

“To give you a feel of the category of our electors. We have more than 100 years of age, centenarians in Assam, Kerala, even Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The 85-plus years of age electors are also in good number. A total number of 2.18 lakh polling stations shall be set up. The majority of them will be in rural areas. The average per elector is between 750 and 850, less than 900 in any case. The model polling stations will be set up in all the states and UTs. There’ll be specially women-managed polling stations. Webcasting shall be 100 % in all the polling stations. And there will be the divyang brothers and sisters managed polling stations as well,” Kumar said.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, recently visited these poll-bound states and the Union Territory earlier this month to assess poll preparedness.