NEW DELHI: Elections were announced on Monday to the 70-member Delhi Legislative Assembly as student protests continue to surge across the country.

Polling would be on February 8 and the votes counted on February 11, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said the poll notification would be issued on January 14. The last date for filing of nominations is January 21, their scrutiny on January 22 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 24.

Mr Arora said 1,47,03,692 electors – 1,46,92,136 general category and 11,556 service voters – were eligible to vote in the polls to be held at 13,750 polling stations.

Asked about the prevailing situation with protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, he said: “We are hopeful that they will be able to control the situation”. If an “extraordinary situation” arose in the polling process, the ECI had the option of deferring elections.

Mr Arora said the Model Code of Conduct had come into effect as he was speaking at the press conference. With the Union Budget usually tabled in Parliament on February 1, Mr Arora said a 2017 ruling of the ECI regarding state-specific announcements would apply. “No state-specific schemes” or “achievements” can be announced in the Budget.

The term of the existing Delhi Assembly expires on February 22. The Aam Aadmi Party had swept the 2015 elections, winning 67 out of the 70 seats. The BJP had won three seats and the Congress, which had been in power from 1998 till 2013, got nil.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2020