General Elections and bye-elections 2026: Scrutiny of Nominations concludes
New Delhi, 26 March : Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections in 6 states on March 15,2026.
- The last date of filing of nominations for the States of Assam and Kerala and the UT of Puducherry and bye-elections in 4 states which go to polls on April 9, 2026 was March 23, 2026.
- Scrutiny of nominations was taken up by the Returning Officers (ROs) on 24th March and completed for these poll-going states/UT and the bye-elections today. Details of the total number of candidates left in the fray after scrutiny are as follows:
|
Sl.
No.
|
Name of State/UT
|
No. of ACs
|
No. of
candidates
|
|
General Elections
|
|
1.
|
Assam
|
126
|
789
|
|
2.
|
Kerala
|
140
|
985
|
|
3.
|
Puducherry
|
30
|
366
|
|
TOTAL
|
296
|
2,140
|
|
Bye-elections
|
|
1.
|
Goa
|
1
|
3
|
|
2.
|
Karnataka
|
2
|
50
|
|
3.
|
Nagaland
|
1
|
7
|
|
4.
|
Tripura
|
1
|
6
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
5
|
66
|
- Scrutiny of nominations was done by the ROs in the presence of the candidates/their agents and the entire process was video-graphed for ensuring utmost transparency.
- As per ECI instructions, the ROs drew up a list of the validly nominated candidates and displayed the list with the photographs of the candidates against their names on their notice board.
- The last date of withdrawal of nominations is March 26, 2026 by 3:00 PM.