Overview
- A team led by deputy election commissioners is in Dehradun to meet Uttarakhand officials and police as the first round of on-the-ground planning for the five upcoming assembly polls.
- Uttar Pradesh and Goa have started First-Level Checks on Electronic Voting Machines and VVPAT units where BEL and ECIL engineers run mechanical diagnostics, clear previous election data, run mock polls with party agents, and seal machines marked 'FLC OK'.
- Commission officers will visit Manipur and Punjab in the coming days, with Goa visit dates being revised and no firm dates yet for a Uttar Pradesh trip, reflecting a phased, state-by-state review process.
- The full Election Commission—Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and two Election Commissioners—is scheduled to begin its state visits in the last week of November to complete readiness checks ahead of any formal schedule announcement.
- Terms for the five assemblies end in March and May 2027 and the Representation of the People Act allows the ECI to hold polls earlier, a legal flexibility that shapes the timing and sequencing of these preparatory visits.