EC Officials Review Poll Preparations in Five States Ahead of 2027 Assembly Elections

Senior Election Commission officials have begun reviewing preparations for the upcoming assembly elections in five states, with a team of deputy election commissioners currently visiting Uttarakhand, officials said on Tuesday.

The Commission's teams are scheduled to visit Manipur and Punjab in the coming days. A proposed visit to Goa is also being planned, though the dates are being revised, senior functionaries said. The schedule for a visit to Uttar Pradesh, which has a 403-member Assembly, has not yet been announced.

The terms of the Assemblies in Manipur, Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand expire on different dates in March 2027, while the Uttar Pradesh Assembly's term ends on May 22 next year.

Under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, elections can be held earlier than six months before the expiry of an Assembly's term. Typically, the full Election Commission, comprising the chief election commissioner and the other election commissioners, visits poll-bound states towards the end of the preparatory process, shortly before the announcement of the election schedule.

As part of the preparations, Uttar Pradesh and Goa have begun first-level checks (FLCs) of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units to be deployed during polling.

During these checks, engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), the two public sector undertakings that manufacture the equipment, inspect the machines for mechanical defects. Faulty units are sent back for repair or replacement. Mock polls are also conducted in the presence of political party representatives to verify the functioning of the machines.

The FLC process includes clearing any data from previous elections stored in the control and ballot units. Machines that successfully pass diagnostic tests are marked “FLC OK” and sealed with specialised pink paper seals to prevent unauthorised access.

An EVM setup comprises at least one ballot unit, one control unit and a VVPAT machine. The inspections form a key part of the Commission's scheduled preparations for conducting free and fair elections.