New Delhi: The Election Commission on Friday announced the schedule for Assembly polls in four states and one union territory- Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry.
The elections will be held between April 4 and May 16. The counting of votes on all seats in five states will take place on May 19.
Polling will be held in six phases, the maximum number, in West Bengal. Assam will undergo polling in two phases whereas, the voting in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will take place in single phases.
Assam: Two-phased polling for the 126 Assembly seats. The first phase will be held on April 4 and the second phase will be held on April 11. 
West Bengal: Starting from April 4, the voting for the 294 Assembly seats will be held in six phases. The first phase will take place on two dates April 4 and April 11. The second phase (66 seats) on April 17, the third phase (62 seats) on April 21, fourth phase (49 seats) on April 25, fifth phase (53 seats) on April 30, the sixth and the last phase (65 seats) on May 5. 
Kerala: Polling for 140-seats Assembly house will take place in one phase on May 16.
Tamil Nadu: Single-phased polling for the 234-state assembly house will be held on May 16. 
Puducherry: Single-phased polling in all 30 Assembly seats on May 16. 
Results for all the states will be declared on May 19.
State-wise total number of Assembly seats:
Assam - 126 seats
Tamil Nadu - 234 seats
West Bengal - 294 seats
Kerala - 140 seats
Puducherry - 30 seats
While addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said that over 17 crore voters are likely to use their democratic right during the elections in all these states.
EC will introduce the symbol for None-of-the-above (NOTA) in the voting machines to avoid any confusion among voters.
The upcoming #AssemblyElections will have a symbol for #NOTA: CEC #NoneOfTheAbove pic.twitter.com/mptmPFPgwS
&; PIB India (@PIB_India) March 4, 2016
Election Commission will set up over 1 lakh 90 thousand polling station across all these states- Kerala- 21,000, Tamil Nadu - 65,616, West Bengal -77247, Assam 25,000 and Puducherry-913.
The terms of the incumbent state Assemblies end between May 22 and June 5.
