Assam Polls: Election Commission officers to hold series of meetings in 3-day state visit

To review election preparedness, a delegation of Election Commission (EC) officers comprising of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora, Election Commissioners (ECs) Sushil Chandra, and Rajiv Kumar will leave for poll-bound Assam on Monday. ECI Director-General Dharmendra Sharma, Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar, and other senior officials will also be present. They will be on a three-day visit to Assam. The commission will reach Guwahati on Monday evening and leave for Kolkata on January 20 evening according to the programme decided last week, official sources said.

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ECI Team recently visited Assam

The ECI team led by Sharma had recently visited the state to assess preparedness for the Assembly polls in Assam. Assam Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Nitin Khade had conducted review meetings with officials to ensure smooth conduct of elections. The delegation will also have direct interaction with representatives of recognized national parties and state political parties, officials said.

READ | EC Team To Visit Assam From Monday To Review Poll Preparedness

The Election Commission had last week discussed with Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla the availability and requirement of central security forces for the upcoming Assembly elections. The meeting held at the EC headquarters was 'primarily to discuss requirement vis-a-vis availability of central armed police forces, and related matters, for the upcoming Assembly elections to the states of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Puducherry,' the poll panel had said. 

The terms of the Legislative Assemblies of five poll-bound states namely Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry are coming to an end either in May or in June this year.

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(With Agency Inputs)