The Election Commission's credibility has taken a big hit, said Sunetra Choudhury of Hindustan Times, in an interaction with CNBC-TV18.

"The credibility of EC really has taken a hit. Nitish Kumar in the last 24 hours has also raised his concerns about such a long drawn out election... he has taken it up from the people's perspective," said Choudhury.

"However the concerns are nonetheless the same that many people in the opposition had raised as well - why is it that we have such a long 7-phase election and why is it that the hottest parts of the country, which are the northern areas, are the ones which are going to polls in the latter half at the end of May? What is interesting is the fact that questions about the EC and the election process are also being raised by an NDA leader," she added.