New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced schedule for Assembly Elections in Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam.
As many as 824 assembly constituencies will go to polls in 4 states- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry (Union Territory), said EC chief Sunil Arora on Friday.
Tamil Nadu assembly elections to be held in a single phase on April 6, Kerala also goes to polls on April 6; Assam assembly elections to be held in 3 phases- 1st phase of polling- March 27, second phase polling- April 1 and third phase of polling- April 6; Puducherry elections to be held on 6th April.
Counting of all votes will be held on May 2.
Kerala Assembly Elections
Election for 140-member Kerala Assembly will be held on April 6. For Assembly poll 2021, the number of polling booths in Kerala has been extended from 21,498 to 40,771. The counting of votes will be held on May 2.
According to the commission, of the 140 Assembly seats, 14 seats are reserved for SC category and two are reserved for ST category candidates.
The tenure of the Kerala legislative assembly will come to an end on June 1, 2021.
In 2016 Kerala assembly election, CPI(M)-led Left Front bagged 91 seats in 140-member Assembly. CPI(M)’s Pinrayi Vijayan is the current Chief Minister of Kerala and he is hoping to return to power after the polls.
Ahead of Kerala election 2021, ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan joined the BJP. Sreedharan has also expressed his wish to become the Chief Minister of Kerala if BJP comes to power in the state.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Polls
Tamil Nadu assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 6 and the counting of votes will be done on May 2. Polls will be held for 234 seats in Tamil Nadu with the Congress-DMK and BJP-AIADMK alliance being the major groups contesting against each other.
The Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre and the AIADMK-led government in the state can sense the ascendance of the DMK and seem determined to base their strategy on issues such as OBC reservation and religion-related controversies.
The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led front, which includes the Congress, had won 37 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu in 2019.
This is the first major set of elections to be held in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic after the Bihar election. The voting hours have been increased by an hour. The number of polling booths has also been increased from 66,007 to 88,936.
Puducherry Elections
Polling for 30 assembly seats in Puducherry will be held on April 6, EC announced.
Of 30 Assembly seats, 5 are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. The voting hour has been increased by one hour in view of COVID-19. The counting of votes will be held on May 2, the commission said.
Congress-led government in the Union Territory fell before completing its five-year term under the Chief Minister V Naraynawamy.
Narayanasamy had resigned on February 22 ahead of a floor test in the 33-member House (including three nominated) following the resignations of five Congress and one Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) legislators. On February 23, President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignation of Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and his council of ministers.
Kiran Bedi was replaced as Puducherry L-G with Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan being given the additional charge of the Union Territory.
In the 2016 Assembly polls, Congress had won 15 seats, All India NR Congress eight seats, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) got four seats, DMK walked away with two MLAs. BJP could not win any seats.
