8-phase Assembly election in West Bengal from March 27 to April 29: here are the dates, other details

Assembly election 2021 will be held in eight phases in West Bengal, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced in New Delhi today.

The EC today announced dates for Assembly election for five states – Tamil Nadu (234 seats), Kerala (140 seats), West Bengal (294 seats), Assam (126 seats) and Puducherry (33 seats). Elections will be held in 824 Assembly constituencies across the country in these states. With 1,000 electors per polling station due to the COVID-19 situation, the number of polling stations this time has increased considerably.

In West Bengal, the number of polling booths has increased to over 1 lakh this time, an increase of 31.65 per cent. This also means more polling personnel and security personnel will be required this time, the CEC said.

West Bengal will have special observer Ajay Naik former chief electoral officer, Bihar, and two special police observers – Vivek Dubey and Mrinal Kanti Das. There will also be B Murlikumar retired IRS, also appointed as special observer for West Bengal.

Here are the election dates for West Bengal (294 seats):

Eight phase elections:

Phase 1 (30 seats): Date of poll March 27

Phase 2 (30 seats): Date of poll April 1

Phase 3 (31 seats): Date of poll April 6

Phase 4 (44 seats): Date of poll April 10

Phase 5 (45 seats): Date of poll April 17

Phase 6 (43 seats): Date of poll April 22

Phase 7 (36 seats): Date of poll April 26

Phase 8 (35 seats): Date of poll April 29

The date of counting will be May 2.

[Image representational]