Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to visit poll-bond Assam, West Bengal next week

NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, along with Election Commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar, will visit Assam and West Bengal early next week to take stock of preparations for Assembly polls slated for later this year.

Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain is already in West Bengal to meet officials. This is Jain's second visit to West Bengal. Another EC official is in Assam to take stock of the situation there.

"The two would brief the Commission on Friday and the Commission would visit Assam and West Bengal in that order early next week," a functionary said.

It is usual for the Commission to visit poll-bound states before announcing the schedule of Assembly elections.

But it had visited Bihar after announcing the dates for the last elections. The terms of the legislative assemblies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry are coming to an end on different dates in May and June this year.

The Assembly elections are likely to take place sometime in April-May. The Election Commission had on Tuesday 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 here was "primarily to discuss requirement vis-à-vis availability of central armed police forces (CAPFs), 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.