Assembly Elections 2021 Highlights: Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry are heading for assembly elections over the next few weeks. Polling will happen in a single phase in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on April 6. While voters in Assam will cast their ballots in three phases, polling in Bengal will happen across eight phases. The first
phase of voting happened on March 27. The second phase will take place on April 1. With that, the election campaign and canvassing is gathering steam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 30 attacked the LDF over the gold smuggling scam. “Judas betrayed Lord Christ for a few pieces of silver. LDF has betrayed Kerala for a few pieces of gold,” he said. Modi accused the two rival parties-LDF and UDF of misleading people. “For many years, the worst kept secret of Kerala politics was the friendly agreement of UDF and LDF. Now, the first time voter of Kerala is asking — what is this match fixing? People are seeing how UDF & LDF misled them,” he said. Modi is scheduled to attend rallies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry too. 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.