Tripura goes to polls on Feb 14, Nagaland and Meghalaya on Feb 23, counting on Feb 28

Assembly elections in Tripura will be held on February 14 and in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 23 and their results will be out on February 28, the Election Commission announced today.

The EC also announced bye-elections to nine Assembly constituencies in Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab on February 23 and in Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra on February 24, but their results will be out together on February 28.

Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath said with the announcement of schedule for the two-phase poll in the North Eastern states and bypolls in various states, the Model Code of Conduct will be in operation with immediate effect and EC will keep a strict vigil on any violation of the Code.

He said electronic voting machines will be used in elections to the three north-eastern states as well as in bye-elections in the seven states.

"The Commission will deploy general observers in adequate number to ensure smooth conduct of elections and appoint adequate number of expenditure observers and assistant expenditure observers to exclusively monitor election expenditure of contesting candidates," the CEC said.

The notification for Tripura elections will be issued on January 21 and for Meghalaya and Nagaland on January 30. All the three state assemblies have 60 seats each. While 10 are reserved for SCs and 20 for STs in Tripura, 55 assembly seats are reserved for STs in Meghalaya and 59 in Nagaland.

According to the poll schedule, the last date for filing of nominations in Tripura is January 28 and after scrutiny the next day, the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is January 31.

For Meghalaya and Nagaland, the last date for filing of nominations is February 6 and after scrutiny the next day, the last date for withdrawal is February 9.

Polling in the three north-eastern states will take place from 7 am to 4 pm, while that for by-elections in other states will be held from 8 am to 5 pm.

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