EC declares poll schedule for WB, Assam, TN, Kerala & Puducherry
New Delhi, Feb 26: Sounding poll bugle the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the election program for four states of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Union Territory of Puducherry.
The voting for 824 assembly constituencies in these four states and one UT will be held in a phased manner starting from March 27 to April 29. A total of 18.68 crore voters will be exercising their franchise on 2.7 lakh polling booths, the EC informed. The counting of all the seats will be taken up on May 2 and the results will be announced the same day.
Announcing the poll program for Assam, EC Sunil Arora said that the northeastern state will have elections to its 126 constituencies in three phases spread over 27th March to 6 April. In the first phase 47 assembly constituencies will go to polls; the second phase of polling for 39 constituencies will be held on April 1 while the remaining 40 assembly constituencies will go to polls on April 6, the EC said.
The term of the Assam Legislative Assembly ends on May 31, 2021. Out of the 126 constituencies 8 are reserved for SCs and 6 for STs. In the present House the BJP has 60, AGP 14, Congress 26, AIUDF 13, BPF 12 and others 1.
The Assembly elections for Kerala’s 140 seats will be held in a single phase on April 6. The term of the present Kerala Assembly ends on 1st June 2021. The present composition of the state Assembly is LDF 84, UDF 47, BJP 1 and Others 8.
Another southern state of Tamil Nadu with 234 assembly constituencies will be having a single phase election on April 6. The term of the present assembly ends on 24th May 2021. Of the total 234 constituencies the state has 44 seats reserved for SCs while two for the STs. AIADMK dominates the present composition of the House with 135 members followed by DMK’s 98 and others 1.
Along with Tamil Nadu, the Union Territory of Puducherry with its 30 seats will also go to polls on the same day i.e. April 6. The term of the present house expires on 8th June. The UT has five constituencies reserved for SCs and 2 for the STs out of the total of 30 seats. The UT is currently under the Central Rule.
The state of West Bengal that has aroused the curiosity of the entire country will have an 8-phase election for its 294 constituencies starting from March 27. The present term of the House expires on May 30. Out of the 294 seats, the house has 68 seats reserved for the SCs while 16 for the STs.
The Trinamool Congress or TMC headed by the Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee dominates the present House with 211 seats out of 294. The Congress has 44 seats while the Left Front has 32. The BJP which aspires to for the government in the state after the assembly polls has only 3 seats in the present house.
The first phase of polling for 30 assembly constituencies in Bengal will be held on 27th March followed by second phase for 30 seats on April 1, third phase for 31 seats on April 6, fourth phase for 44 seats on April 10, fifth phase for 45 seats on April 17, sixth for 43 seats on April 22, seventh phase for 36 seats on April 26 and the eighth phase for 35 assembly constituencies will be held on April 29 to conclude the elections for all the 294 seats.
The EC said that all the Covid-19 protocol will be observed strictly during the election process. Also the CRPF will be deployed to ensure free and fair elections, he added. In view of the Corona pandemic, the number of polling stations has been increased in all the states to ensure smooth polling, he said adding that the polling time is also extended by one hour. All the polling stations will be compulsorily located on the ground floor.
Door-to-door campaigning is allowed but only five persons including the candidate can participate in this campaign. Nominations and fees can be filled online. Voting will be supervised under the CCTV system and no polling will be held on festival and exam dates, Arora said.