New Delhi (IANS) : Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur will be held between February 4 and March 8, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced on Wednesday.

The results from all five states will be known on March 11, Zaidi told a press conference. While polling in Goa and Punjab will take place on February 4, Uttarakhand will vote on February 15 and Manipur in two phases on March 4 and 8.

Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, will go to the polls in seven phases: February 11, 15, 19, 23 and 27 and March 4 and 8. This will be the single biggest electoral exercise since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and will involve a total of 690 constituencies, 403 of them in Uttar Pradesh alone.

Goa has 40 seats, Punjab 117, Manipur 60 and Uttarakhand has 70 seats. “We are committed to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner,” Zaidi said. The Election Commission would also check the “misuse of black money and liquor”.

The main players in the five states include the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Manipur People’s Party.

The Election Commission set the campaign expenses limit per candidate at between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 28 lakh in the five states where assembly polls will be held laster this year.

Announcing the limit, Nasim Zaidi said: “In Goa and Manipur the limit on election expenses per candidate is Rs 20 lakh.” “In Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand the election expenses limit per candidate is Rs 28 lakh,” the CEC said.

The Election Commission also said that the defence personnel posted away from their homes can cast their votes through one-way electronic transmission in the upcoming state polls.

“We have decided to allow the defence personnel and central para-military forces personnel to cast their votes through one-way electronic transmission system,” Zaidi told reporters. Zaidi also said that the EC had first experimented the initiative in Puducherry in August 2016.