Barring Chhattisgarh, which will have a two-phased poll, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram will see one-day Assembly polls beginning November 11 and ending December 4.
Counting for the States will be held on December 8, announced Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) VS Sampath. In this election, for the first time the Commission will introduce ‘None Of The Above’ or NOTA button on EVMs, allowing voters to exercise negative voting, following the Supreme Court verdict on September 27. Delhi’s 70 Assembly constituencies will go to polls on December 4, the same date when elections will be held in Mizoram’s 40 constituencies.
The big States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with 230 and 200 seats respectively will also go to polls on a single day. With a voter base of 4.64 lakhs, Madhya Pradesh will elect a new Government on November 25 while in Rajasthan, with a total voting population of 4.06 lakhs, elections will be held on December 1. The Commission will deploy State and Central paramilitary forces for maintaining law and order during elections.
When asked about the preparations made for elections to be held in the Naxal-infested areas of Chhattisgarh, the CEC along with Election Commissioners HS Brahma and Nasim Zaidi said: “The focus is on Bastar and other adjoining districts where elections will be held in one phase.”
A total of 18 Assembly constituencies which includes Naxal strongholds will go to polls in the first phase on November 11. Election to the remaining 72 seats will be held in the subsequent phase on November 19.
The Commission will also ensure that as per another verdict of the Supreme Court recently, affidavits of candidates showing blank or vacant spaces will be rejected in case the concerned candidate fails to rectify the error after being served a notice by the returning officer.
However, the Commission expressed inability to field EVMs with voter verifiable paper trail (VVPT) system in the coming elections due to non-availability of machines.The Commission has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court expressing satisfaction with the VVPT fitted machines, after they were tested in the recent bye-election to a Nagaland constituency.
The bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, while dealing with the PIl filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy sought an assurance from the EC if the new machines could be available by lok Sabha elections. However, the Commission expressed paucity of machines and funds by such time. It pointed out that the two companies producing the machines - Bharat Electrical limited and ECIl could hardly produce 20,000 machines when the requirement was for 10 lakh EVMs.