CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday announced that the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 23, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4.
Following the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force across the State, barring the DMK-led government from making new policy announcements.According to the election schedule, candidates can submit their nomination papers from March 30, while the last date for filing nominations is April 6.
Addressing the media, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accompanied by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, assured voters that the elections would be conducted smoothly and peacefully, with special attention to maintaining law and order.
The Assembly elections will be the first in the State after the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, which produced a final voter list of 5.67 crore electors, including 12.51 lakh voters in the 18–19 age group.
The Chief Election Commissioner said political parties had been provided with the updated electoral rolls and that the window for requesting corrections would remain open until 10 days before the filing of nominations.
To improve the voting experience, the number of voters assigned to each polling booth has been reduced to 1,200 from 1,500.
Timeline of Tamil Nadu Assembly election schedule
March 15 – Election Commission announces the Assembly election schedule; Model Code of Conduct comes into force across Tamil Nadu.
March 30 – Notification for the election to be issued; filing of nomination papers begins.
April 6 – Last date for filing nomination papers.
April 7 – Scrutiny of nominations.
April 9 – Last date for withdrawal of candidature.
April 23 – Polling to be held across the State in a single phase.
May 4 – Counting of votes and declaration of results.