Election for the five states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Assam would begin from March 27. The results would be announced on May 2.
The Bengal elections would be held in eight phases, the dates being March 27, April 1, 6, 10, 17, 22, 26 and 29.
Elections in Assam too would be held in phases. It would be held in three phases of March 27, April 1 and April 6
The elections in Puducherry would be held on April 6. The same as it is for Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Announcing the election dates chief election commissioner Sunil Arora said that nearly 18.68 crore electors would be voting at 2.7 lakh polling stations for 924 seats in five state assembly elections.
Polls are to be held for 294 seats in West Bengal, 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, 140 seats in Kerala, 126 seats in Assam and 30 seats in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
After Bihar, this is the first set of elections to be held in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bengal will see the most high stakes battle with two-time Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee facing a tough challenge from the BJP amid an exodus from her Trinamool Congress to the BJP and corruption investigations against her party leaders.
The BJP is also campaigning aggressively to retain power in Assam, where it won for the first time in 2016, beating the Congress.
