Election dates announced in five states including Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, voting will be held in two phases in Bengal.

The Election Commission on Sunday announced the dates of assembly elections to be held in five states and one union territory of the country. According to the Commission, voting will be held in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the month of April, while counting of votes in all the states and union territories will be done simultaneously on May 4. Along with this, by-elections will also be held on vacant assembly seats in many states during this period.

When and where will voting take place?

According to the election schedule, voting in West Bengal will be conducted in two phases. Voting will be held here for the first phase on 23 April and for the second phase on 29 April. Voting will be held in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry in a single phase on April 9. Voting will be conducted in Tamil Nadu also in one phase on 23 April. Counting of votes at all places will take place on May 4, after which the election results will be declared.

Elections will be held on how many seats in total?

Announcing the election schedule, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that in total about 17.4 crore voters will exercise their franchise in these states and union territories. He said that work has been done on a large scale regarding election preparations and the work of revising the voter list has also been successfully completed. Elections will be held on a total of 824 assembly seats in all these areas.

He also informed that large-scale revision of voter lists has already been completed and the final voter list has been published, which will help in making the election process transparent and smooth. The Election Commission team had recently visited various states and reviewed the preparations.

This time the main contest in the 294-member Assembly of West Bengal is being considered between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. TMC has been in power in the state since 2011 under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. In Bengal, voting will be held on 152 seats in the first phase and 142 seats in the second phase.

Elections will be held for 126 assembly seats in Assam, where a tough contest can be seen between the current BJP led NDA government and Congress. Voting will be held here in a single phase on April 9.

Competition between whom in Kerala?

In Kerala, the election contest for 140 seats is mainly between the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front. Apart from this, BJP led NDA is also in the election fray and is trying to perform better in the state.

Voting will be held on 234 seats in Tamil Nadu on 23 April. The alliance and seat sharing between political parties in the state is being finalized and election campaigning has intensified.

Voting for 30 assembly seats of Puducherry will be held on 9 April. Here Congress, DMK and CPI are contesting the elections in alliance, while in opposition there is an alliance of All India NR Congress, BJP and AIADMK.

The Election Commission also made it clear that ensuring free and fair voting throughout the elections is its top priority. For this purpose, the Commission has appointed Central Observers under the provisions of Article 324 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act 1951, who will monitor the electoral process and help in maintaining smooth election management at the field level.