Five states, three dates: Poll calendar out
New Delhi: Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will be held in a single phase on April 9. Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on April 23, while West Bengal will see a two-phase election on April 23 and 29, the Election Commission said while announcing the poll schedule on Sunday.
Results for all the states will be declared on May 4. The four crucial states and the Union Territory of Puducherry will, in all likelihood, see a high-voltage and politically charged electoral season that will be viewed as a test for the NDA, headed by the BJP and
driven by the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as regional satraps. The NDA had posted impressive Assembly poll victories in Bihar and Delhi.
All eyes will be riveted towards West Bengal which had voted in eight phases during the 2021 Assembly polls, held amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The first phase of polling took place on March 27, and the last on April 29.
This time in West Bengal, polling will be held in 152 Assembly constituencies in the first phase and in 142 seats in the second phase.
It is learnt that leaders of several political parties, had expressed their views to the Election Commission officials this time that the polls should be held in two or three phases. A long drawn schedule not only hikes election expenses but also becomes tiresome for campaigners and public spirit about the democratic exercise. The BJP has made its presence felt in the political space in West Bengal and the party will make all out effort to shake the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s citadel.
Apart from testing the tenacity of Brand Modi, the elections to Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala will offer the BJP an opportunity to shed the tag of being a “North Indian party”. The BJP’s triumphs in the South have been limited to Karnataka. In Kerala, it will face a resurgent Congress-led UDF and the ruling LDF under Pinarayi Vijayan.
These elections will see the BJP trying to retain power in Assam, while it will be pitted against ruling parties in West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Puducherry is governed by NDA partner All India N R Congress.
A total of 17.4 crore voters are eligible to vote in the elections to five Assemblies with 824 constituencies, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said at a press conference here. The CEC was flanked by the two Election Commissioners -- Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The model code of conduct has come into effect immediately with the announcement of the poll schedule. Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala are currently ruled by opposition DMK, Trinamool Congress and Left Front, respectively.
There are 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu where DMK leader M K Stalin has been the chief minister since 2021. West Bengal has a total of 294 Assembly seats with TMC leader Mamata Banerjee in power since 2011.
Kerala has 140 seats and Left leader Pinarayi Vijayan has been the chief minister since 2016, leading the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
In Assam, there are 126 Assembly seats, and the BJP has been in power in the Northeastern state since 2016. Himanta Biswa Sarma has been the chief minister since 2021.
Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy has been in power since 2021. The UT has a total of 30 seats where polling will take place.
CEC Kumar said the elections must be free of violence or inducement and warned that the EC will take strong action against any violation. He said presiding officers at all polling booths will upload voter turnout data every two hours and immediately after voting ends.
“The Election Commission will ensure greater transparency in the counting of votes and announcement of results. Election Commission has asked all enforcement agencies to ensure elections are impartial and violence-free,” he said.
The term of the Assembly will come to an end in West Bengal on May 7, in Tamil Nadu on May 10, in Assam on May 20, in Kerala on May 23, and in Puducherry on June 15.
There are 6.4 crore voters in West Bengal, 5.67 crore in Tamil Nadu, 2.7 crore in Kerala, 2.5 crore in Assam and 9.44 lakh in Puducherry.
There will be 2,18,807 polling stations in all four states and one UT -- of which 31,486 booths are in Assam, 30,471 in Kerala, 75,032 in Tamil Nadu, 80,719 in West Bengal and 1,099 in Puducherry.
Bypolls to five Assembly seats in Goa, Karnataka, Nagaland and Tripura will be held on April 9 and in another three constituencies of Gujarat and Maharashtra on April 23, CEC Kumar said.
Kumar said the counting of votes for bye-elections will be held on May 4 for all eight constituencies. The bypolls in all eight constituencies were necessitated due to death of sitting MLAs.
The eight constituencies are: Ponda in Goa, Bagalkot and Davnagere South in Karnataka, Koridang in Nagaland, Dharmanagar in Tripura, Umreth in Gujarat, and Rahuri and Baramati in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar ducked questions on the Opposition’s notice to move a motion in Parliament for his removal from the post.
At a press conference held to announce Assembly election schedules in four states and a Union Territory, Kumar did not answer questions on the Opposition notice.
