Though Kerala and Tamil Nadu have witnessed a surge in corona virus cases in the last few weeks the polling is to take place in only one day.
In contrast West Bengal and Assam which have much fewer number of cases of pandemic, polling has been spread to several days.
According to the Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora, while election would be held on March 27, April 1 and 6 in Assam which has 126 seats, it would take place on April 6 for 234 constituencies of Tamil Nadu as well as 140 and 30 Assembly segments of Kerala and Puducherry respectively.
Thus, on April 6 polling would be held for 404 Assembly constituencies of the two states and Union Territory. Besides, the third phase for Assam and West Bengal and two Lok Sabha by-poll for Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Malappuram in Kerala would also take place on April 6.
In contrast elections would be spread in West Bengal in eight phases for 34 days, that is between March 27 and April 29.
Polling would be held here on March 27, April 1, 6, 10, 17, 22, 26 and 29. Last time West Bengal had a seven-phase poll.
Reacting to the Election Commission announcement on Friday chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked as to why the polling had been spread to eight phases in the state which has 294 constituencies. She said that there should be some logic for this over a month-long exercise. Has it happened at the instance of somebody?
The Election Commission has issued special health guidelines for the election official supervising the polling as it is feared that the COVID-19 cases may increase further especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
