Live: Assembly Election Dates For Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa Announced

Election Commission announced assembly election dates for UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa

NEW DELHI:  The Election Commission today announced the dates and phases of elections for 5 states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa. Assembly elections for Uttar Pradesh were held in 7 phases in 2012. Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi made the announcements.

Here are the announcements made by the Election Commission on assembly election dates and phases:

• Assemblies expiring on: Goa 18 March, Manipur 18 March, Punjab 18 March, Uttarakhand 26 March, and Uttar Pradesh 27 March.
• Number of constituencies: 619/690 - 133 reserved for Scheduled Castes, 23 for Scheduled Tribes.
• Millions of errors, multiple entries have been removed from the electoral rolls.
• Revised electoral rolls published on: Goa - January 5, Manipur - January 12, Punjab - January 5, Uttarakhand - January 10, and Uttar Pradesh - January 12.
• The Election Commission will distribute photo voters slip to all voters. These have been improved.
• Colourful voter guide will be distributed to all families. This will have details of polling stations, date and time of polling, ID docs that can be used, etc.
• 1.85 Lakh polling stations will be covered. This has increased by 15 per cent.
• There are over 16 crore voters in the 5 states.
• For secrecy, height of the voting compartment has been raised to 30 inches.
• Electronic Voter Machines or EVMs will be used in all states.
• As you know there is a symbol provided at bottom of EVM for 'None Of The Above' or NOTA.
• In certain constituencies there will be Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail or VVPAT.
• The number of constituencies with VVPAT will be increased.
• Election Commission is joining the rank of global leaders in the area of electronic transmission of votes. This is a historic (first) step.
• Electronic transmission of votes done keeping in mind defence personnel.
• Postal votes will be transmitted one-way in certain constituencies.
• Candidates will be required to file a no demand certificate.
• The rules have also been changed. Candidates will have to fix a photograph on nomination paper. They will have to declare that they are citizens of India, not sought foreign citizenship.
• The model code of conduct comes into immediate effect.
• The Election Commission is determined to ensure strict compliance.
• In the last 72 hours there are reports of malpractices, so new SOP has been introduced.
• The Election Commission is discouraging parties from using any environmentally hazardous materials for publicity. We also discourage the use of loudspeakers.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/live-assembly-election-dates-for-uttar-pradesh-punjab-uttarakhand-manipur-and-goa-announced-1644866