The Election Commission has said that it expects that the governments of all five poll-bound states will abide by the sound convention of only presenting a vote on account rather than a full budget. Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi told PTI that Model Code of Conduct does not apply to internal functioning of state legislatures but there is a sound convention that election going state governments do not present full scale budget.

The Commission’s remarks came in the backdrop of West Bengal Speaker H A Halim saying that the EC should have announced the state’s poll schedule taking into account the Budget Session of the House. He said the EC should have consulted the state before coming out with the schedule.

Trinamool Congress has opposed the state government’s reported plans to present a full budget.

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi along with two Election Commissioners will arrive in Guwahati today on a two-day visit to Assam to review the poll preparedness. Official sources, the full Commission will hold discussions with the State and district Election authorities to monitor the implementation of election guidelines. They will also review the steps taken for strict adherence to the model code of conduct and complaint monitoring system besides security and other arrangements for a free and fair polling in the State.

Deputy Election Commissioner, Vinod Jutshi reviewed the election preparedness of North-Bengal districts of West Bengal at a meeting in Siliguri yesterday. Mr. Jutshi met the District Administration of 6 north-Bengal districts where law and order situation and deployment of Central Force among other things were discussed. Mr. Jutshi on his four day visit to the State will go to different south-Bengal districts also to have a first hand experience on overall poll-preparedness.