The Election Commission on Monday initiated internal exercises to conduct the Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakahand assembly polls. This is SOP by the EC, done six months before the end of the term of any assembly.

What happens is that the EC takes congnizance of the legal, political and other angles and formulates the groupings of states and dates of polls, and estimates the requirement of para military forces to ensure free and fair polls. It also analyses the earlier assembly polling dates to see how many phases these polls should be held over.

The Deputy Election Commissioner first prepares a note and then circulates it to the Chief Electoral Officers of the five states. The exercise will begin in mid July in earnest, but today, the initial exercise to determine the electoral process began at the level of the Deputy election commissioner. The terms of these assemblies end on the following dates:
Uttar Pradesh: May 27, 2017
Uttarakhand: March 24, 2017
Goa: March 18, 2017
Punjab: March 18, 2017
Manipur: March 18, 2017