Poll dates for 5 states announced by EC, results on 11 December

October 6: The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for election in five states. The five states which will be going for the polls are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Telangana.

Chief Election commissioner (CEC) said that the election in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases, in the first stage, elections will be held in 18 assembly constituencies on November 12. In the second phase, the election in 72 constituencies will be held on November 20. Legislative elections in Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram will be held on November 28. Meanwhile, in Rajasthan and Telangana will go to polls on December 7 in a single phase.

With the announcement of the poll dates by the ECI, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force with immediate effect. Mizoram’s 50-member House expires on December 15, 2018. Chhattisgarh’s Assembly, comprising 90 members, ends on January 5, 2019. The tenure of the Madhya Pradesh 230-member House expires on January 7, 2019. The 200-member Rajasthan House expires on January 20, 2019. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently dissolved the House to avoid a possible clubbing of Assembly polls with the Lok Sabha elections.

The EC was to initially hold a press conference at 12.30 pm Saturday, but the announcements were made only at 3pm. Earlier today, the Congress raised questions on the independence of the Election Commission when it pushed back the timing of the press conference to announce dates. While the election body said the move was made not to inconvenience media persons, the Congress alleged the delay might be linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Ajmer.