New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday announced that Assembly elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya spread across 9,125 polling stations will be held in a single phase, starting from February 16, 2023.
Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar informed that the term of Nagaland , Meghalaya and Tripura which have 60 Assembly seats each, will be over on March 12, March 15 and March 22 respectively, and added that the poll panel is committed to hold free and fair elections in these Northeastern states.
“Assembly polls in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya will be held in a single phase. Voting in Tripura will be held February 16, and Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 27,” Kumar said.
Counting of votes will take place on March 2, he said.
The date of issue of notification for Tripura Assembly polls would be January 21, while for Meghalaya and Nagaland on January 31, the CEC said.
“For Tripura, the last date for filling nomination is January 30, and for Meghalaya and Nagaland are February 7. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on January 31 and February 8 respectively,” Kumar said.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature for Tripura Vidhan Sabha elections is February 16, and for Meghalaya and Nagaland it is February 10, he added.
The 180 Assembly seats in these states are spread across 9,125 polling stations with a total of 62.8 lah voters, Kumar said.
He informed that 376 polling stations will be managed by women.
All the polling stations will have Central Armed Police Forces personnel, Kumar informed.
“The Commission will deploy 64 expenditure observers, 69 general observers and 33 police observers in these three states,” the CEC said.
Tripura is being governed by BJP, Conrad K Sangma -led National People’s Party (NPP) is in power in Meghalaya and Neiphiu Rio-led Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is ruling in Nagaland.
The CEC also announced bye-elections to one parliamentary seat of Union Territory of Lakshadweep, and six Assembly constituencies of Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra on February 27.
The counting of votes will take place along with the three states on March 2.
