Daijiworld Media Network - Goa (MB)
(with inputs from PTI)

Panaji, Mar 27: In the midst of mammoth poll preparations in Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission is quietly working on meeting the deadline of conducting Assembly elections in tiny Goa where the term of the House ends on June 11.

The commission is busy collecting information on holidays and other festivals in the state before announcing the poll schedule sometime next month, sources said.

Indications are that the 40-member Goa Assembly is expected to go to polls early June.

Political parties have already started looking at all permutations and combinations before striking electoral alliance in the state where the stakes are high both for the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

Congress and Nationalist Congress Party have decided to fight the polls jointly and talks are on regarding the nitty-gritty of seat-sharing.

At present Congress enjoys support of two NCP legislators.

Congress sources expect the alliance to pay dividends as it would minimize a split in anti-BJP votes particularly in those constituencies that have seen narrow victory margins.

BJP, which is also taking the polls seriously, has appointed party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy as the party's poll incharge in the state.

The 2002 elections saw a fractured verdict with BJP getting 17 and Congress 16 seats.

Though BJP had managed to come to power with the support of five other legislators, its government fell because of a Constitutional crisis resulting in Congress taking over the reins in 2005.