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Assembly Elections 2021 Highlights: It’s the assembly elections season in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry. Polling happened in a single phase in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on April 6, while voters in Assam cast their votes in three phases. Polling in Bengal is happening in eight phases. Of these, three phases have concluded. The next phase will take place on April 10. The election campaign and canvassing has continued there in full swing. Counting of votes in all states will happen on May 2. In Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is fighting to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s surge at bay. The saffron party has shown a dramatic electoral rise in the state over the last few years. In Assam, the state’s governing BJP is hoping to retain power even as it faces ‘Mahajot’, the joint opposition alliance comprising the Congress, AIUDF and other regional parties. Congress and the Left Front, which are allies in 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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DMK youth wing leader Udhayanidhi Stalin on Wednesday denied he had breached the Model Code of Conduct during the poll campaign for the just concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections by making some remarks about late BJP leaders Sushma Sawaraj and Arun Jaitley. (PTI)
A case of violation of model code of conduct has been registered against Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration Minister S P Velumani, police said on Wednesday. The Minister allegedly took his car with an AIADMK party flag near a polling booth on Tuesday, the polling day in the state, which was the violation, the police said. (PTI)
Mamata ji's hooliganism took another turn but people of West Bengal have decided to stop it. She can see her defeat in these polls. She was against poor in Bengal & is now speaking against paramilitary forces. (ANI)
BJP came with lakhs of goons from outside to capture Bengal. It is not so easy. First think about Delhi and then Bengal.
I visited only one gram panchayat but with the enthusiasm I saw, I am confident that Rajib Banerjee will win with a majority. On May 2, BJP will form the government with over 200 seats. Mamata Banerjee's frustration can be seen in her speeches and behaviour. (ANI)
The Congress today demanded that CCTV feed from strong rooms across Assam be madeavailable to candidates, the state Congress chief said. Assam Congress president Ripun Bora has written a letter to the state Chief Electoral Officer Nitin Khade seeking access to CCTV feeds from strong rooms, whereElectronic Voting Machines are kept, to make the process more transparent.The Congress also accused the Election Commission of acting "as per instructions of the BJP". (PTI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a colourful roadshow in West Bengal's Singur today, once a hot spotof the anti-land acquisition movement, and promised rapid industrialisation of the area if BJP is voted to power.The symbolism of the home minister holding a road show in Singur, three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally there and alleged the "obstructionist mindset" of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee deprived West Bengal ofindustries and jobs, was clear--the BJP wants to corner her over the state's dwindling industrial base and alleged job loss. Lustily cheered by crowds, Shah stood atop a decoratedvehicle with BJP candidate for the Singur seat Rabindranath Bhattacharya, who recently joined the saffron party after
leaving the Trinamool Congress, and smilingly waved at people standing by the roadside and on terraces and balconies. (PTI)
We want free & fair polls, public should be allowed to cast their votes. CRPF shouldn't obstruct them from entering the polling center. I respect CRPF who are real jawans but I don't respect BJP CRPF who are doing nuisance, attacking women & harassing people.
A look at seats won by political parties in West Bengal in the last five Assembly elections
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The Election Commission has removed returning officers of eight constituencies in Kolkatathat will go to the polls in the last two phases of the West Bengal assembly elections on April 26 and 29, an officialsaid today. New officials have already been appointed in the Chowringhee, Entally, Bhowanipur, Beliaghata, Jorasanko, Shyampukur, Kashipur-Belgachia and Kolkata Port assemblysegments, he said. Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab described the transfer of the eight returning officers "as a routine move since they had held their posts for more than three years". Sources in the poll panel said complaints were received against the officers for allegedly favouring theruling Trinamool Congress. (PTI)
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and Member of Parliament Kanimozhi, who had tested positive for COVID-19 recently, cast her vote clad in a personal protective equipment (PPE) suit, at a polling station in Chennai's Mylapore on April 6. The 53-year-old DMK leader arrived in an ambulance from the hospital where she is being treated for the infectious disease and voted in the single-phase election's final hour, earmarked for COVID-19 patients.
Read more | Tamil Nadu Election 2021: DMK's Kanimozhi, COVID-19 positive, casts vote in PPE suit
