The Election Commission has announced the dates of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry assembly elections on March 15. With the announcement of election dates in 5 states, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force.
New Delhi. The Election Commission of India has announced the dates for the assembly elections to be held in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry on Sunday 15 March. Elections in Assam and Kerala will be held in a single phase on April 9. The counting will take place on May 4. Similarly, voting will take place in Tamil Nadu on April 23. Elections will be held in Bengal in two phases and votes will be cast on 23rd and 29th April. The election process will officially begin in these states with the announcement of the election schedule. The election schedule was announced by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi were also present with him.
Elections in which states in how many phases?
According to sources, this time voting is likely to be conducted in two phases in West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu. Whereas in Kerala and Puducherry, voting is expected to be held in a single phase. Elections are to be held in a total of 824 assembly seats in 5 states. There are 2.19 lakh polling booths in all these states. 40 thousand employees have been deployed for counting. At the same time, 8.5 lakh security personnel will be deployed to conduct the elections safely.
EVM will have color photographs of the candidates
This time color photographs of all the candidates will be placed in EVMs. At the same time, booth employees will get identity cards. There will be webcasting at every polling booth.
The tenure of all five assemblies is ending in May.
The tenure of the current assembly of all these five states ends in May 2026. Therefore, it is necessary to hold elections on time as per the constitutional process, so that new governments can be formed on time.
In how many phases was voting held in the 2021 elections?
If we talk about the last time, the assembly elections of these five states in 2021 were announced on 26 February. At that time, voting was conducted in 8 phases in West Bengal, while voting was conducted in 3 phases in Assam. Voting was held in a single phase in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
Preparation for heavy deployment of security forces for elections
There are plans to deploy a large number of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to strengthen security during the elections. According to the report, more than 1500 companies, i.e. about 1.4 lakh security personnel can be deployed. This number may be more than the security forces deployed for the Jammu and Kashmir elections in 2024.
Tough contest between TMC and BJP in West Bengal
The main contest for the 294 assembly seats of West Bengal is expected to be between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission will continue to investigate the cases of about 60 lakh doubtful voters in West Bengal. Supplementary voter lists will be published after getting the court’s approval. Apart from this, returning officers have also been appointed for all 294 assembly seats of West Bengal.
Election clash between NDA and Congress in Assam
The main contest for the 126 assembly seats of Assam is likely to be between the BJP and the Congress under the leadership of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Direct fight between LDF and UDF in Kerala
The main contest for 140 seats in Kerala is believed to be between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF). The BJP-led NDA is also contesting on around 100 seats, while its allies Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) and Twenty20 Kizhakkambalam are contesting on the remaining 40 seats.
Seat sharing and election campaign intensified in Tamil Nadu
Political parties in Tamil Nadu are intensifying election campaigning and seat sharing for 234 assembly seats is being finalized. Congress is contesting the elections in alliance with DMK and CPI. He is facing challenge from AIADMK, BJP and All India NR Congress.
Voting will be held on all seats of Puducherry
There are a total of 30 assembly seats in Puducherry and voting will be held in all the constituencies.
Model code of conduct comes into force with the announcement of election dates
With the announcement of the election schedule, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect with immediate effect in the five states. After this the government and political parties will have to follow the rules of the Election Commission.