Single Phase Elections After a Long Time, What’s Up?

The Election Commission of India has announced the schedule for the 2026 Assembly elections in four states and one union territory that are Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry after some long delay. 

According to the EC, polling will begin on April 9,  with most states voting in a single phase, which is being seen as a notable change compared to the multi-phase elections commonly seen in the last few years. .

As per the announced schedule, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry will go to the polls on April 9 in a single phased stretch where again Tamil Nadu will vote on April 23, while West Bengal due to its size and security considerations, will have voting in two phases that is April 23 and April 29.

The move to conduct elections in mostly single phases after a long time has attracted attention. And also the West Bengal selection is taking within just 2 phases whereas earlier it took 8 phases to complete the same. WIth this, there is also very less possibility of post-poll violence occurring as the time is reduced by every efficiently.  

In many recent elections, particularly in large states, voting was spread across several phases to manage security and logistics. This time, however, the EC appears confident that administrative preparations and security arrangements are strong enough to hold the elections more quickly with a lot of SIR study that was conducted from the last few months over the same. The Commission also confirmed that the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists has already been completed, and final electoral rolls have been published in these states.

The decision came after the Commission completed a detailed review of election preparedness across the states. Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi held meetings in Delhi on March 11 to study field reports from state officials and central observers before finalising the polling schedule.

Before announcing the dates, EC officials also travelled to several states to review preparations on the ground. Their visits included meetings with district magistrates, police officers and representatives of political parties to ensure that polling arrangements were in place.

With the terms of the current assemblies ending in May and June, the elections are being conducted in time to ensure that new governments are formed without delay.