Delhi Assembly poll results will be declared before February 15: Election Commission of India

NEW DELHI: Delhi assembly poll results will be declared before President’s rule expires on February 15, according to top sources in Election Commission of India (ECI).

Polls officials, who spoke to ET on the condition of anonymity, clarified that “technically” the EC has time till April to organise elections in the state, but the Commission is keen to wrap everything up before February 15. The poll panel held a meeting on Tuesday to take a final call on Delhi election dates, which will be announced this week.

This, incidentally, will be the last election announced by Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath before he retires on January 15

“Our job is to complete the electoral process within six months of the dissolution of the state assembly. Going by that, we have time till April to hold elections in Delhi, but we don’t want the government to go through the effort of extending the President’s rule. The EC does not want to be faulted on any count. Polling day and results will be before it expires,” said a senior poll official who did not wish to be identified. The President’s Rule was imposed in Delhi on February 17, 2014, following the resignation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who headed a minority Aam Aadmi Party government for 49 days.