Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections on April 23; Vote Counting on May 4
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 23, 2026, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4, 2026.
Following the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into effect across Tamil Nadu, restricting the State government from making new policy announcements during the election period.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, made the announcement during a press conference in New Delhi. The officials assured that all necessary arrangements would be made to ensure peaceful and smooth conduct of the elections.
According to the Election Commission, candidates can start filing their nomination papers from March 30, and the last date to submit nominations is April 6.
The upcoming election will be the first Assembly election after the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, which resulted in a final voter list of 5.67 crore voters, including 12.51 lakh voters in the 18–19 age group.
To improve voter convenience, the Election Commission has also reduced the number of voters per polling booth from 1,500 to 1,200.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Election 2026 – Key Dates
- March 15, 2026 – Election schedule announced; Model Code of Conduct comes into force
- March 30, 2026 – Election notification issued; nomination filing begins
- April 6, 2026 – Last date for filing nominations
- April 7, 2026 – Scrutiny of nominations
- April 9, 2026 – Last date for withdrawal of candidature
- April 23, 2026 – Polling across Tamil Nadu (single phase)
- May 4, 2026 – Counting of votes and declaration of results
