Tripura to go for polls on February 16, polling for Meghalaya, Nagaland will be held on February 27: ECI

The Election Commission of India on January 18 announced the poll schedule for assembly elections in three North Eastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

The dates were announced during a press conference held by ECI at Rang Bhawan auditorium, AIR, New Delhi. The conference was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner of India, Rajiv Kumar, and ECI Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel.

As per the announcement, polling for Tripura Elections 2023 will be held on February 16 while Meghalaya and Nagaland will together for polls on February 27, 2023.

Counting of votes for Tripura will take place on March 2. Tripura's assembly session will end on March 22, 2023.

There are 80 members in the Tripura Legislative Assembly. In 2018, the BJP-Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) alliance won a sweeping majority in the 60-member Tripura Assembly, ending the Left's 25-year hold on the state.

The BJP won 35 of the 60 seats available, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 16, the IPFT got 8, and the Congress lost with no seats.

There will be 3,328 polling stations across the state of Tripura.

According to chief election commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, the dates for the assembly elections to the three states have been set, keeping the exam season in mind. Kumar stated that women's participation in the voting process has always been high in all three states. 

The last day to submit nominations in Tripura is January 30, and the gazette notification will be issued on January 21. The deadline to withdraw candidatures is February 2. The gazette notification will be distributed on January 31 in Nagaland and Meghalaya. The date for filing nominations is February 7.

The assembly term of Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland will come to an end on March 12, 15, and 25, respectively. In the three states, there will be a total of 9,125 polling stations, 634 more than in 2018. 73 per cent of polling stations will offer webcasting. Women will be in charge of 376 polling stations.

Also read : Election Commission to announce poll dates for Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland on January 18