ECI reviews Assam’s election preparedness

GUWAHATI

Most political parties in Assam have urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold the State’s forthcoming Assembly election in not more than two phases.

The full Bench of the ECI, headed by the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, reviewed the State’s poll preparedness in Guwahati on Tuesday (February 17, 2026). The panel held meetings with delegations of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, and other political parties.

Mr. Kumar held the review meeting with senior police and State election officers, including Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel, in the presence of Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

Among the other political parties were the All India United Democratic Front, Asom Gana Parishad, Bodoland People’s Front, United People’s Party Liberal, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), and the Aam Aadmi Party. These parties invariably favoured the conduct of the elections, expected by April, in a single phase or two phases.

They also suggested steps to ensure a peaceful conduct of the polls. The ECI delegation, which arrived on Monday (February 16, 2026), is expected to assess the SIR of electoral rolls.

‘Doubtful deletions’

Earlier, the Assam unit of the CPI(M) had urged the ECI to ensure an error-free voters’ list. In a memorandum submitted to Mr. Kumar, the party said official data relating to the SIR showed that 35,94,983 claims and objections were received across the State. Of these, 12,97,796 were filed under Form-7 seeking deletion of names.

The party pointed out that 10,63,647 such objections and 5,86,146 new inclusions under Form-6 were accepted.

“While deletions on legitimate grounds are part of any revision, the extraordinarily volume and high acceptance rate of deletion warrant careful scrutiny to ensure that the Constitutional guarantee of franchise under Article 326 has not been compromised through procedural infirmities or coordinated misuse,” the CPI(M) said.

Assam has 126 Assembly seats. The term of the current Assembly will expire on May 20. The 2016 and 2021 Assembly election, won by the BJP-led alliance, were held in two and three phases, respectively.