The voting for Assembly elections across five states, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal, concluded on Tuesday with an impressive turnout, between 65 per cent to over 82 per cent. While it was a busy polling day, all eyes were fixed at the tough battle in Tamil Nadu where the Congress along with its allies like the DMK locked in a keen contest to regain turf in South India. Sporadic violence was also reported from parts of West Bengal which is going to polls in eight phases.
Polling was held in 475 seats across the four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry, and the remaining phases will cover only West Bengal, before the counting of votes on May 2.
In Kerala, where the Left is hoping to beat anti-incumbency to retain power, a feat unseen in four decades, and the BJP is making efforts to build inroads, nearly 74 per cent polling was recorded in the 140 seats till 7 PM. There was nearly 65 per cent voting in Tamil Nadu for 234 assembly constituencies and around 80 per cent in Puducherry’s 30 seats.
The three-phase assembly election culminated in Assam with 82.33 per cent in 40 seats polling in the final round in the state where the ruling BJP is battling the Congress-led alliance to retain power. The trend of high turnout and violence during polling continued in West Bengal as the ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP and the Left-Congress alliance put up an intense fight in the high-stakes contest. Five candidates, including two women, were assaulted in poll-related clashes as over 77 per cent voting was recorded in 31 seats in West Bengal in the third phase.
The massive polling exercise following Covid-19 health protocol and involving millions of personnel began at 7 AM and the last hour from 6 PM to 7 PM was set aside for Covid-19 patients and those under isolation. DMK Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi, who is being treated for Covid-19, voted at a polling station in Chennai while wearing a PPE kit. In Tamil Nadu, both the Dravidian parties AIADMK and DMK went into the election without their stalwarts, J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi. Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam will cement their position as successors of Jayalalithaa if the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK) retains power though it faces an uphill task especially after the rout in the 2019 Lok Sabha election when the DMK-led alliance won 38 out of 39 seats.
In Kerala, where the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is seeking to break the state’s four-decade-old trend of swinging between the communists and the Congress-led United Democratic Front, the electors decided the fate of 957 candidates in 140 Assembly constituencies across the state. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, health minister K K Shailaja, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, Power Minister M M Mani and Higher Education Minister K K Jaleel are among the prominent personalities trying their electoral luck from the ruling side.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, senior leaders K Muraleedharan, P T Thomas and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan are among those contesting from the UDF fold. The BJP, which has failed to make a dent in the state, has fielded former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan, ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan, who joined the saffron party recently, state president K Surendran , senior leader Shobha Surendran and Rajya Sabha members Suresh Gopi and K J Alphons.
