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Assembly Elections 2021 Highlights: Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry are heading for assembly elections today. Polling is happening in a single phase in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on April 6. Voters in Assam will cast their ballots in the third and final phase today. This is the third polling phase in Bengal, with five more phases to follow. The election campaign and canvassing will continue in West Bengal where voting is yet to happen. Counting of votes in all states will happen on May 2. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain power in Assam even as it faces ‘Mahajot’, the joint opposition alliance comprising the Congress, AIUDF and other regional parties. In Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is fighting to keep BJP’s surge at bay. The saffron party has shown a dramatic electoral rise in the state over the last few years. Congress and the Left Front, which are allies in West Bengal, are competing for power in Kerala. The Congress-led UDF and the ruling LDF have been winning alternate elections since the early 1980s. Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK has continued its alliance with the BJP amid a challenge from MK Stalin-led DMK and its alliance partners. However, one of the key things to watch out for in the southern state is how some of the smaller parties – including that of actor Kamal Haasan and TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK – may impact the poll outcome. With their government having collapsed due to defections weeks before the election, V Narayanasamy-led Congress is battling the BJP-NR Congress alliance in Puducherry.
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Voter turnout in #AssemblyElections2021 till 7:11 pm:Assam 82.29%, Kerala 70.04%, Puducherry 78.13%, Tamil Nadu 65.11% and West Bengal 77.68%
Polling for 3rd phase concludes in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal and Assam
Polling in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and for Phase three Assembly Constituencies in Assam and West Bengal conducted peacefully. Voting held in 1.5 lakh Polling Stations across 475 Assembly Constituencies: Election Commission of India
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported on Tuesday in some areas where voting is underway in the third phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, even as the overall situation by and large remained peaceful with 34.71 percent turnout recorded till 11 am, officials said.
Voting is underway with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols in 16 seats in South 24 Parganas district (part II), seven in Howrah (part I), and eight in Hooghly (part I), they said.
DMK MP K Kanimozhi, tested positive for COVID-19, casts her vote in PPE kit
#TamilNaduElections : DMK MP K Kanimozhi, who has tested positive for COVID-19, casts her vote in PPE kit at a polling station in Mylapore, Chennai.
Election Commission has designated one hour between 6 pm & 7 pm for voting by COVID positive patients.
#TamilNaduElections: DMK MP K Kanimozhi, who has tested positive for COVID-19, casts her vote in PPE kit at a polling station in Mylapore, Chennai.
— ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2021
Election Commission has designated one hour between 6 pm & 7 pm for voting by COVID positive patients. pic.twitter.com/z2G3ClKEie
Voter turnout in #AssemblyElections2021 till 5:34 pm:Assam 78.94%, Kerala 69.95%, Puducherry 77.90%, Tamil Nadu 63.47% and West Bengal 77.68%
Many voters at a polling booth in Diamond Harbour constituency of West Bengal claimed that TMC workers didn't let them vote.
"Officials came here but didn't facilitate voting for us," said a woman, earlier today.
Disappointed over her defeat, Mamata Banerjee is abusing me: PM Modi
Disappointed over her defeat, Didi (Mamata Banerjee) is abusing me. People of West Bengal are disheartened with her attitude. Country & World are discussing what kind of West Bengal's image Didi is presenting: PM Modi in Howrah.
Assam has recorded 68.31% voter turnout till 3 pm in 40 assembly seats where polling is underway for the third and last phase, according to the Election Commission of India.
In the past 40 years, six leaders have become Chief Ministers, but none have been voted back to power. In fact, many have struggled to complete a single term in office — and most of the time it’s thanks to infighting within the party or alliance. This time, will Kerala break this jinx of alternating governments? Read here
The Sabarimala women's entry issue, one of the major poll planks of the opposition UDF and the NDA against the ruling LDF during the campaign, took centre stage of debate even today, the day of the Kerala assembly election, in Kerala as major leaders locked horns over the matter. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity at the Sabarimala, and all other gods are with the LDF government which has worked for the welfare of people.
Read more | Sabarimala triggers heated debate on election day
West Bengal has recorded 66.52% voter turnout till 3 pm, according to the Election Commission of India
