The Election Commission has said that the election schedule for Assembly Elections in five states will be announced after consultation with the Union Home Ministry on the availability of security forces and concerned states.Talking to media persons yesterday at Lucknow, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said that the Commission is committed to conducting free and fair elections. He said preparations for assembly elections are complete in Uttar Pradesh. AIR correspondent reports that the Election Commission has initiated scrutiny in six districts in Uttar Pradesh where unusually high numbers of firearm licenses have been issued in the last couple of months. These districts include state capital Lucknow, Deoria, Hardoi, Chitrakoot, Azamgarh, Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Shahjahanpur. The Chief Election Commissioner has also said that the EC is keeping an eye on the functioning of state government officials against whom opposition political parties have complained about behaving in a partisan manner. He has said that the EC's job starts after notification of elections but the commission is doing its homework. Dr. SY Quraishi has said that voting in the forthcoming Assembly elections will be held on the basis of Electoral Photo Identity Cards, EPIC. The CEC also announced that a training session of political parties would be organised at state level to give them information regarding rules and regulations.