Thiruvananthapuram: As the term of the current Kerala Legislative Assembly nears its end, a senior delegation from the Election Commission of India (ECI) is expected to visit the state in February to review preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections.

A new 140-member Assembly has to be constituted by the third week of May, making April the most probable period for voting.

The visiting team will be headed by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, a former top bureaucrat from Kerala with deep familiarity with the state’s governance and politics.

Earlier this week, Kumar chaired a meeting in New Delhi with senior Election Commission officials to assess the situation in states going to polls this year, including Kerala.

According to sources, the EC is seriously considering holding the Kerala assembly polls in April, with indications of a single-phase poll across all 140 constituencies in the state’s 14 districts. Kerala has historically preferred single-phase voting due to its relatively small size, high voter awareness, and strong administrative systems.

During its visit, the ECI team is expected to review issues such as law and order, deployment of central forces, monitoring of campaign expenditure, the status of electoral rolls, and arrangements to ensure free and fair polling.

The Commission may also examine the use of digital tools and strategies to tackle misinformation during the campaign.

Politically, the state is gearing up for another triangular contest among the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Currently, the LDF holds 96 seats in the Assembly, while the UDF has 42. The NDA — despite increasing its vote share — failed to retain the lone seat it had won in 2016.

The political scenario shifted slightly on Monday when one seat became vacant following the disqualification of ruling front MLA Antony Raju, who lost his membership after being sentenced to three years in a criminal case — a development that has added to the political buzz ahead of the polls.

With the EC intensifying its review activities, Kerala is now clearly moving into the final stretch of the election process.