With the Tripura polls were deferred by two days from April 20 to 22 due to a local festival, the Lok Sabha elections will now be held in five phases — April 20, 22, 26 and May 5 and 10.Setting the process of notification of the Lok Sabha elections in motion, the Union Cabinet today approved the Election Commission’s schedule and sent the file to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.‘‘The recommendations were sent to the President for him to notify the elections,’’ Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said after the Cabinet meeting.The EC also rescheduled the polling dates of Anadaman & Nicobar Islands which has one parliamentary seat. Polling will now take place on April 20. ‘‘The Commission changed the dates after it got representations from the state government and other organisations on the weather condition which might disrupt the movement of polling parties,’’ EC spokesperson A.N. Jha said.The Tripura polls were rescheduled on account of tribal festival Baba Gariyapuja which is on April 20. The EC also set up a six-member crack-team comprising senior three officials of the IAS and three of the IRS to oversee the Lok Sabha polling in the five Naxalite-infested states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. So far two officials — N.S. Madhavan and S. Tripathi — have been appointed.
