Soon after the dissolution, President KR Narayanan summoned chief election commissioner MS Gill this evening to discuss the probable poll dates. A separate election commission notification on the polling schedule will follow shortly.

Talking to newspersons after the meeting, Gill virtually ruled out elections before July-end, disappointing the caretaker government, which demanded polling at the earliest, possibly by mid-June. The presidential action followed a recommendation of the Union cabinet earlier in the day that dissolution of the Lok Sabha was the only answer to the ongoing political impasse.

A press communique issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan later in the evening said: "The President could not but observe that the ruling alliance had lost its majority because of a lack of cohesion within its ranks and those who voted out the alliance showed the same lack of cohesion when trying to form an alternative government."

In its recommendation, the Union cabinet asked the President to hold the election as early as possible so that the country was not subjected to caretaker governance for long.

As per constitutional norms, the elections have to be mandatorily held within 180 days of the dissolution of the Lok Sabha so that there is no gap of more than six months between two sessions of the lower house. This means that the new Lok Sabha must be in place before October 21.

The chief election commissioner, who returned to the capital this morning cutting short his US visit, held a full meeting of the commission to take stock of the situation in the wake of the dissolution. He also met a delegation of the Congress party who demanded that the commission must revise electoral rolls before the election.