Five States To Vote In 7 Phases Between Feb 10 And March 7; Results On March 10

The Election Commission of India (EC) announced dates for assembly elections in Punjab on Saturday. The Punjab Assembly Election 2022 will be held in a single phase on February 14 for 117 constituencies. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.The last date to file nominations will be January 28 and the nomination withdrawal date has been scheduled for January 31.

PUNJAB ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2022 –

Issue of notification – January 21, last date of nominations – January 28, scrutiny of nominations – January 29, last date of withdrawal of candidature – January 31.

Elections will be completed in seven phases from February 10 to March 10. Uttarakhand (70 seats), Goa (40 seats), and Punjab (117 seats) will vote in the second phase on February 14, along with UP, Uttarakhand, and Goa.

All three will vote in a single phase. Uttar Pradesh will vote in seven phases for its 403 assembly seats and Manipur will vote in two phases on February 27 and March 3.March 7 is the last date of polling. Votes will be counted on March 10.

The election comes on a day when the WHO asked nations to do whatever they can to stop the surge of Covid and India saw 1,41,786 new cases.The Election Commission said it had had deliberated deeply about holding assembly elections and decided it would be undemocratic to delay polls. Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said that the commission had taken several measures in the middle of the third wave of the pandemic. Polling stations have been increased by 16 per cent to 2,15,368 polling stations to help reduce the number of voters per booth and help comply with Covid protocols.All election officials and polling staff will be treated as frontline workers, Chandra said. They will be double vaccinated and given “precautionary” doses. The Election Commission of India also banned rallies, roadshows, and sabhas of any kind till January 15 and will be reviewed later. No victory processions will be allowed, the CEC said. Any door-to-door campaigns will be limited to five people. Polling booths must be fully sanitised and equipped with hand santisers.

The Election Commission of India said voting will be held in UP in seven phases on the following dates: February 10 (Thursday), February 14 (Monday), February 20 (Sunday), February 23 (Wednesday), February 27 (Sunday), March 3 (Thursday) and March 7 (Monday). The Uttar Pradesh election results 2022 will be declared on March 10 (Thursday) when counting of votes in UP takes place along with four other poll-bound states – Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. The term of the current Uttar Pradesh Assembly ends in May and those of the other four state Assemblies ends on different dates in March.