The Election Commission on Thursday announced the schedule for the Assembly elections to three North Eastern states – Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland.

The polling in Tripura will be held on February 18. Meghalaya and Nagaland will go to vote on February 27. The counting of votes in the three states will be on March 3.

Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti said the model code of conduct came into force in the three poll-bound states from Thursday. Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails will be used in all three elections.

Each candidate will have a poll campaign expenditure limit of Rs 20 lakh.

The term of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly will end on March 6, while Nagaland Legislative Assembly will end on March 13 and the term of Tripura Legislative Assembly will conclude on March 14. The strength of the three Houses is 60 members each.

Congress’ Mukul Sangma is the current chief minister of Meghalaya, while TR Zeliang is the incumbent chief minister of Nagaland. Communist Party of India (Marxist) is in power in Tripura under Manik Sarkar.

On Wednesday, Nagaland People’s Party leader and Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio resigned from the party and joined the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party. Rio has served as the chief minister of Nagaland three times.