3 min readMar 15, 2026 09:45 AM IST
First published on: Mar 15, 2026 at 09:45 AM IST
With Assembly elections due in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry, the Election Commission is set to announce the poll schedule on Sunday, it is learnt.
The EC, comprising Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, are scheduled to address a press conference on Sunday.
Elections to the Assemblies of Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal are due as the terms of the Houses expire in May and June. The polls in West Bengal are expected to be held over fewer phases than the eight-phased 2021 polls, according to EC sources.
The EC’s announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Kolkata, kicking off the campaign. The PM accused the ruling Trinamool Congress government of trying to protect “infiltrators” during the recently concluded Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. At the same time, a TMC-led Opposition motion to impeach the CEC for alleged biased conduct during the SIR was submitted last week in both Houses of Parliament.
Starting in June last year, the EC has conducted the SIR in 11 states and three UTs so far, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. The exercise involved the creation of the electoral rolls from scratch, with all registered electors required to submit enumeration forms and some categories of electors required to submit additional documents and appear for hearings to prove their eligibility, including citizenship. While announcing the second phase of the SIR in October last year, the CEC had said Assam had been left out of the national exercise as the National Register of Citizens in the state was yet to be published.
So far, the exercise has led to the electorate reducing by 18.98 crore across Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Goa, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Kerala, as per EC data. The SIR in Uttar Pradesh is ongoing, with the final roll scheduled to be published on April 10, while the EC is planning on carrying out the exercise in the remaining states/UTs from April.
The last intensive revision of electoral rolls across states was carried out in the early 2000s. Since then, the electoral rolls have been updated annually and before each election. The EC, while ordering the SIR on June 24, 2025, said it felt the need for the exercise due to the rapid urbanisation, migration and possibility of electors being registered at multiple places. The Opposition, however, saw the exercise as a check of citizenship through the back door, with several petitioners moving the Supreme Court challenging the EC’s powers to do so. The matter is pending in the court.