The EC on Saturday announced the poll dates for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana. Chhattisgarh, where elections will be held in two phases, will be the first state to go to polls on November 12 and November 20. This will be followed by MP and Mizoram on November 28. Assembly elections in Rajasthan and Telangana will be held on December 7, said Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat on Saturday.
The Election Commission added that the model code of conduct has come into effect from Saturday in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, while it has been already in place in Telangana since the day of dissolving of the assembly.
Counting of votes in all the states will be held on December 11.
The term of Mizoram assembly will end this year. While the terms of the assemblies in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh would conclude in January next year, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had prematurely dissolved the assembly in his state to advance elections.Rao had recently met with Election Commission officials, triggering speculation he wanted the polls to be held with the four states.
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There had been speculation in recent months the BJP may choose to delay holding Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram in order to club them with an early Parliamentary election and state polls in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana.
The speculation had been triggered by the BJP's sustained campaign for 'one nation, one election', which sought to club all assembly elections with the parliament polls on the grounds of reducing wastage of resources and minimising impediments to governance.
Earlier in the day, the election dates announcement was embroiled in controversy after the EC changed its press meet from 12: 30 pm to 3 pm. Parties, including the Congress, had alleged that this was in light of PM Modi's poll campaign address
