Don't announce exam dates without asking us: Election Commission tells 5 states

NEW DLEHI: With Assembly elections due early next year in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, the Election Commission today asked the poll-bound states not to announce examination schedules without consulting it. "The Commission is aware that the annual examination at various levels of educational institutions in the states are generally due in the first half of the next year. "The Commission wants that there is no clash between the programme of the elections...and the examination schedule that may be framed by various state education boards," the Commission told the states. The poll body pointed out that it is a Constitutional mandate to hold the elections well before the expiry of the term of the Legislative Assembly and it is in the "advance stages" of considering a schedule for holding the elections. While, the term of the Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur and Punjab are coming to an end on March 18, that of Uttarakhand will expire on March 26. The term of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly will expire on May 27. The EC is likely to announce the poll schedule for these states sometime later this month or early January.