Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and Indian School Certificate examinations for Classes X and XII have been rescheduled in view of assembly elections in five states including Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

The ICSE Class X exam, which was earlier scheduled to begin on February 27 and end on March 31, will now commence on March 10 and conclude on April 21, it said on Friday.

Similarly, the examination for ISC Class XII, which was scheduled to begin on February 6 and conclude on April 5, will now begin on January 30 and conclude on April 26.

'Consequent to the dates for Assembly elections being announced for the states of Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, the dates for ICSE and ISC examinations had to be rescheduled,' said Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, which conducts the examinations.

'As a result of rescheduling of the examination, the candidates will now have the benefit of added study time. The schedule of entrance examinations for admission to professional courses has been taken cognisance of,' Arathoon said in a statement.