Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday announced that polling for all 70 assembly seats in Delhi will take place on February 5, with votes to be counted on February 8.
By-elections for two assembly constituencies, Milkipur in Uttar Pradesh and Erode in Tamil Nadu, will be held on the same date, while by-elections for Budgam and Nagrota constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir will be postponed due to current snow conditions.
The deadline for filing nominations is January 17, and nominations will be scrutinized by January 18. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until January 20.
"It is a single-phase election… We have deliberately kept polling on a Wednesday so more people come out to vote… like we did in Maharashtra. The entire election process will be completed by February 10," Kumar said during a press conference.
Of the 70 seats in Delhi, 58 are general, and 12 are reserved. The electoral roll lists 1.55 crore voters in Delhi, including 83.49 lakh men, 71.74 lakh women, and 1,261 transgender voters.
Among these, there are 25.89 lakh young voters, 2.08 lakh first-time voters, and 830 voters above the age of 100, Kumar added.
More than 13,000 polling stations will be set up across Delhi.
In the 2020 assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured 62 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 8, while the Congress failed to win any seats.
Kumar also mentioned the upcoming by-elections in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam and Nagrota constituencies, which will be postponed due to snow conditions, but assured that these elections will be completed by April.
He further noted that two parliamentary constituencies, Basirhat in West Bengal and Visavadar in Gujarat, are awaiting by-elections due to pending election petitions. "We cannot hold by-elections until those petitions are resolved," he said. Election petitions must be filed within 45 days of the result declaration in the state high courts.