NEW DELHI: Polling began at 7 am on Tuesday for one of the busiest days in the ongoing Assembly election in all four states and one Union Territory – West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Polling is being held for a total of 475 of the total 824 assembly constituencies across the states of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Union territory of Puducherry. While for West Bengal, the day marks the third in an eight-phase election, in Assam it is the third and final phase of voting. The remaining states/UT -Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are witnessing a single-phase polling. Counting for all the polls will be held on May 2. The polling in West Bengal and Assam had commenced from March 27. The last phase of West Bengal polls will take on April 29. The counting of votes for elections to four states and one UT will be held on May 2. As many as 18.68 crore electors will cast vote at 2.7 lakh polling stations in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, Arora had said during a press conference here.
The CEC added that the polling time has been increased by one hour and the postal ballot has been extended to voters above age of 80, people with disabilities and people involved in essential services. “Adequate CAPFs deployment shall be ensured during elections. All critical, vulnerable polling stations have been identified and an adequate number of CAPFs will be deployed,” CEC Sunil Arora said. Here is all you need to know about the polling in the four states and Puducherry: Assam: The term of the 14th legislative assembly of Assam is up to May 31, 2021. The Assembly elections for 126 seats are being held in three phases. First phase took place on March 27, second phase took place on April 1 and the final phase of the Assam polls is being held today. In 2016 Assembly polls were held in two phases. This phase will decide the fate of 337 candidates across 40 constituencies of 12 districts in the state, including the senior minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Hemanta Biswa Sarma in the Jalukbari constituency.
There are a total of 12 female candidates and 325 male candidates in the fray, whose fates will be decided by 79,19,641 general electors in the third phase. Of these, 40,11,539 are males, 39,07,963 females and 139 are other genders. There are also 24,460 are service voters. Apart from Hemanta Biswa Sarma, BJP minister Chandra Mohan Patowary from Dharampur, education minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya from Gauhati East, and BJP state chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass from Patacharkuchi are also in the fray in the state. The fates of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate Phanibhushan Choudhary from Bongaigaon, Bodoland People’s Front’s (BPF) Pramila Rani Brahma from Kokrajhar-East, and Chandan Brahma from Sidli, independent candidate and Lok Sabha MP Naba Hira Kumar Sarania from Barama will also be decided. From BJP, MLAs Atul Bora from Dispur, and Suman Haripriya from Hajo are also in the fray.
The fate of sitting Congress MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed, former AGP MLA Kamala Kalita from Chaygaon, and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) working president Pabindra Deka from Pathacharkuchi will also be decided in the third phase.
Barama constituency, from where Kokrajhar’s Lok Sabha MP Naba Kumar Sarania is contesting the polls as an Independent candidate will also go into polling in the last phase.
