Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: The Election Commission will announce the schedule for Assembly polls in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur on Saturday.
The poll schedule will be announced after a meeting between Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi and Election Commissioners V S Sampath and H S Brahma to be held at 4.30 pm today.
The schedule for the elections will be given a final shape after the EC assesses the availability of paramilitary forces from the government.
The Election Commission had yesterday held discussions with Home Secretary R K Singh on the availability of paramilitary forces for Assembly polls in five states.
Around 80,000 paramilitary personnel, apart from state policemen, are expected to be deployed during the Assembly polls.
The Home Ministry conveyed to the Election Commission that it was ready to provide 700 to 800 companies (70,000-80,000 personnel) of paramilitary forces for deployment in the five states.
Sources said polling in politically-sensitive Uttar Pradesh is expected to be multi-phased while it will be in one phase in the other four states. It is expected that the polls will be held during February-March.
(With PTI inputs)
