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EC announces Assembly election dates in five states

by IBNS 04 Jan 2017, 08:58 am

New Delhi, Jan 4 (IBNS) : The Election Commission on Wednesday announced the dates and phases of Assembly elections for 5 states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa- to be held between February 4 and March 8.

Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi made the announcements, a day after the  poll panel held a meeting with the Chief electoral officers of the 5 concerned states. 

With this announcement the  Model code of conduct comes into immediate effect

Zaidi said polling will be held in the total of 690 Assembly constituencies.
 
According to the EC, elections in Goa and Punjab will be held on February 4, in Uttarakhand on February 15-all in a single phase, while Manipur will go to polls in two phases on March 4 and March 8.
 
However, Uttar Pradesh, the state with the highest number of constituencies will witness a seven-phase election to be held between February 11 and March 8.

The Assemblies in Goa (40) , Manipur (60) and Punjab (117) expire on March 18, in Uttarakhand (70)  on March 26 and in Uttar Pradesh (403) on May 27.

Zaidi said  nearly 16 crore voters will be participating in the 2017 Assembly elections and 1.85 lakh polling stations will be set up to enable them to exercise their franchise.

The limit for expenses for candidates is Rs 28 lakh for UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Rs 20 lakh for Manipur and Goa, the CEC said.

He said that in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur voters lists will be published on January 12, Uttarakhand on January 10, and in Goa and Punjab on January 5.