The South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala go to polls on Monday that will decide the fate of Chief Ministers Jayalalithaa and Oommen Chandy and their arch rivals and nonagenarians M Karunanidhi and V S Achutanandan in their respective states that will witness multi-cornered contests. Puducherry also goes to the polls on Monday.
A total of 3,740 aspirants are in the fray for the 233 Assembly seats.
Counting of votes in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry where rival candidates fought a gruelling two-month campaign in peak summer along with West Bengal and Assam will be taken up on May 19 to decide the outcome of what is being described as “mini” general elections.
The BJP is seeking to make inroads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala where the power has oscillated between the AIADMK and the DMK and the Congress-led United Democratic Front(UDF) and the CPI-M led Left Democratic Front(LDF) respectively for decades. Besides AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa and 91-year-old Karunanidhi, the poll arena in Tamil Nadu also has two other Chief Ministerial candidates — actor-turned politician Vijayakant of DMDK-PWF-TMC combine and PMK’s Anbumani Ramadoss.
Of the total 234 constituencies, polling will be held in 233 seats as the Election Commission had deferred the process in Aravakurichi segment in Karur district to May 23 due to “unlawful” activities of candidates and political parties in “bribing” voters. Counting of votes in Aravakurichi will be taken up on May 25.
Election authorities have seized more than Rs 100 crore unaccounted cash in the state, the largest among the five states involved in the Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, charging the DMK and the AIADMK with distributing money to voters, PMK leader S Ramadoss on Sunday urged the Election Commission to disqualify the candidates of these parties and postpone Monday’s election.
In a statement in Madurai, he said: “the Election Commission has postponed the elections in Aravakurichi citing distribution of money to the voters. This means EC has openly admitted the distribution of money.”
More than a lakh police and paramilitary personnel would man over 65,000 polling booths across the state, which is witnessing a multi-cornered contest also featuring BJP, seeking to make a mark along with a few minor allies.
Jayalalithaa, seeking a second successive term in office, and Karunanidhi, eyeing to lead DMK to power after back-to-back drubbings in the 2011 assembly and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, are contesting from R K Nagar in Chennai and Thiruvarur respectively.
Tamil Nadu is known to generally elect one clear winner from the two Dravidian giants, DMK and AIADMK, since 1967.
In Kerala, the ruling UDF and LDF, which had gone hammer and tongs at each other during the electioneering, are keeping their fingers crossed even as BJP is hoping to get a toe-hold. A total of 1,203 candidates, including 109 women, are contesting for the 140 Assembly seats.
Besides Congress’ Chandy and Achutanandan, the 92-year-old CPI-M veteran, and his party colleague Pinarayi Vijayan, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala(Congress), IUML leader and Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, former Finance Minister K M Mani (Kerala Congress-M), BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, former Union minister O Rajagopal and cricketer Sreesanth are among the key candidates.
Some Mollywood actors are also in the fray. BJP has thrown its hat in the poll arena in the state known for its bipolar polity after stitching up an alliance with the newly floated Bharat Dharma Jana Sena, a party floated by the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, an organisation of the backward Ezhava Hindu community. BJP is yet to open an account either to the Assembly or Parliament from Kerala.
The two month-long hectic campaign in soaring summer heat saw national leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who made three trips to the state to address five meetings, wooing the voters.