Polls in WB, Assam, Kerala, TN and Puducherry in April-May

Mar 2 (UNI) New Delhi: Elections will be held to elect new assemblies in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal from April 4 to May 10, the Election Commission announced here today.

Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi told a news conference that while Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will have a single-phase polling on April 13, Assam will
go to the polls in two phases on April 4 and 11. Polling in West Bengal will be spread over six phases –

April 18, 23 and 27 and May 3, 7 and 10. Around 150 million voters will be eligible to take part in the elections.
West Bengal is expected to witness one of the keenest contests,where the Left Front led by the CPI(M), which has been in power since 1977, faces its most serious challenge. The Left Front’s biggest threat comes from the Trinamool Congress of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee who has pledged to overthrow the Marxists and form a government. While in Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK is facing an uphill
task with the J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK in the process of stitching a formidable alliance. She recently announced a pre-poll alliance with film superstar Vijayakanth’s DMDK. In Puducherry, the Congress is in power and would be making
every effort to retain it. In Assam, the Congress is in power for the last two terms
and it is unlikely to have any alliance with other parties while Opposition AGP as also BJP are getting ready for the polls.
In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF is expected to give a tough fight to the ruling LDF-led CPI(M) in view of the fact that the Congress and its allies’ good show in the last
parliamentary polls.

The detailed poll schedule is as follows:

West Bengal

Phase 1: Date of Notification - March 24; Date of Election - April 18 (54 seats)

Phase 2: Date of Notification - March 30; Date of Election - April 23 (50 seats)

Phase 3: Date of Notification - April 2; Date of Election - April 27 (75 seats)

Phase 4: Date of Notification - April 7; Date of Election - May 3 (63 seats)

Phase 5: Date of Notification - April 11; Date of Election - May 7 (38 seats)

Phase 6: Date of Notification - April 14; Date of Election - May 10 (14 seats)

Tamil Nadu

Date of Notification - March 19: Date of Election - April 13 (all 234 seats)

Kerala

Date of Notification - March 19: Date of Election - April 13 (all 140 seats)

Assam

Phase 1: Date of Notification - March 10; Date of Election - April 4 (62 seats)

Phase 2: Date of Notification - March 18; Date of Election - April 11 (64 seats)

Puducherry

Date of Notification - March 19; Date of Election - April 13 (all 30 seats).

Counting of votes will be taken up in all the four states and one Union Territory on May 13.
The model code of conduct comes into effect immediately.Overseas voters would be able to vote in the upcoming polls, Mr Quraishi said.

Polling stations in the poll-bound states are -

Tamil Nadu — 54016

Kerala — 20758

Assam — 23813

West Bengal — 51919

Puducherry — 851

The polls in all four states and the UT of Puducherry will be conducted at all polling stations using electronic voting machines. Based on the assessment of the ground situation, Central PoliceForces(CPF) and State Armed Police(SAP) drawn from other states will be deployed during the ensuing elections. The CPF and SAP will be used generally for safeguarding the polling stations. The poll watchdog will deploy General Observers in adequate number to ensure smooth conduct of the polls. In addition to the General Observers, the Commission will also deploy micro-observers to observe the poll proceedings in the polling stations on the poll day in select critical polling stations. The EC also decided to appoint adequate number of Expenditure Observers an Assistant Expenditure Observers who will exclusively monitor the election expenditure of the contesting candidates.