Assembly Election 2022: EC announces poll schedule for UP, 4 other states; counting on March 10

The Assembly election in five states will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7.

Screen grab from the EC press conference

New Delhi: The complete schedule for the much-awaited polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur was released by the Election Commission on Saturday (January 8, 2022).

"As COVID-19 cases soared in view of the Omicron variant, ECI held meetings with the Union Health Secretary and Home Secretary, experts and the health secretaries of States. After taking these views and ground situation, ECI has decided to announce polls with safety norms in place," Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said.

"We aim to conduct COVID-safe elections in five states with maximum voter participation with extensive preparations," he added.

Chandra further stated that senior citizens above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities and COVID-19 infected patients can vote by postal ballot.

He also informed that a total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in these polls, of which, 8.55 crore are women electors.

All polls to be completed in seven phases 

The Chief Election Commissioner said that the assembly elections in all five states will be completed in total seven phases and will be held between February 10 and March 7.

He added that the much-awaited result will come out on March 10.

Uttar Pradesh Assembly Election schedule

The first phase for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will take place on February 10, followed by the second phase on February 14.  

The third phase will be held on February 20, the fourth on February 23, the fifth on February 27, the sixth phase on March 3 and the seventh phase on March 7.

Punjab Assembly Election schedule

The Punjab Assembly Elections for 117 constituencies of the state will be held in a single phase on February 14 and the result will be declared on March 10.

Uttarakhand Assembly Election schedule

The Uttarakhand Assembly polls for 70 constituencies of the hill state will take place on February 14 in a single phase. The result will be announced on March 10.

Goa Assembly Election schedule

Goa will go to the polls on February 14 and the votes will be cast for the 40 constituencies in a single phase. The result will be released on March 10.

Manipur Assembly Election schedule

The Manipur Assembly elections will be conducted in a two-phase, on February 27 and March 3. The result will come out on March 10.

While the term of the current Uttar Pradesh assembly is ending in May, those of the other four assemblies are ending on different dates in March. Out of these 5 poll-bound states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in 4 states including Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.