The poll panel is likely to announce the schedule of the elections later this week.
Kolkata: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar has said that strict action will be taken against persons who indulge in intimidation of voters in the upcoming Assembly elections. In a press conference in Kolkata, he said the Commission will not tolerate any pre-poll or post-poll violence.
“The Election Commission (EC) knows how to hold polls in a free and fair manner. From time to time, the EC gives instructions to officials who conduct the polls. We have heard that you interfere in between and give instructions to officials, including the district election officers and superintendents of police. This will not be tolerated any further. Please stop interfering,” the CEC was quoted as saying by the Telegraph newspaper.
Over the past week, the full bench of the Election Commission of India, led by CEC Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, visited all the poll-bound states to review election preparedness.
Single and two-phase polling
Assembly elections in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry are most likely going to be held in a single phase, while West Bengal will see elections in two phases, ETV Bharat reported, citing EC sources.
Kumar has asserted that the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu will set a record much better than those in Bihar. In an interaction with the media in Chennai recently, he said that Tamil Nadu has shown the way in the percentage of voting every time the state faced elections.
