The Election Commission on Friday held discussions with the Union Home Secretary R. K. Singh in New Delhi on the availability of the paramilitary forces for the Assembly polls in the five states—Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. Around 80,000 paramilitary personnel, apart from the state police, are expected to be deployed during the polls. The Home Ministry conveyed to the Election Commission that it was ready to provide 700 to 800 companies of paramilitary forces for deployment in the five states.Polls are likely to be held during February-March.Meanwhile, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab has announced its first list of 48 party candidates for the coming Assembly polls. It has 24 sitting MLAs, 9 former MLAs, one former Member of Parliament and 11 new faces. It includes 17 youth and six women.All Ministers and the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly have been included in the list. One retired DGP and one IAS officer are also among the candidates.Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will contest from his native Lambi constituency. He will be pitted against his younger brother Gurdas Badal, whose candidature has already been announced by the People's Party of Punjab (PPP), headed by former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal. Punjab Assembly has 117 seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal has alliance with BJP.On the other hand, the Congress has announced its candidates for 58 more Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh for the forthcoming polls. AIR Lucknow correspondent reports that party's National General Secretary Oscar Fernandes released fourth list of candidates on Friday taking the total number of candidates announced so far to over 315 out of 403 constituencies.In the fourth list, the party has fielded a retired Allahabad High Court Judge Justice K. K. Mishra from the Azamgarh constituency.The Congress has fielded 31 women candidates and has declared its candidates for 65 of the 85 reserved seats. The party has left about 45 seats for the Ajit Singh lead Rashtriya Lok Dal.Recently both the parties have entered into a poll alliance for Assembly elections.