The dust has settled on the polling booths in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry as political titans wait for Monday, May 4, when the winners of the intensely fought elections will be declared.
Even as exit polls predict anti-incumbency will have an effect in Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and a Congress win in Kerala, all eyes are on West Bengal to see if Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) manages to hold on to power, or the Bharatiya Janata Party makes a historic breakthrough and claims the state for the first time.
West Bengal
Counting will begin at 8 am across 77 centres, with elaborate security arrangements outside strongrooms. As many as 165 additional counting observers and 77 police observers will oversee the process and ensure adherence to norms.
Counting for the Bhabanipur seat, arguably carrying the highest symbolic weight where Mamata Banerjee is taking on senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in a prestige fight on her home turf, will be held at the Sakhawat Memorial centre.
Women safety, SIR harassment dominated campaign
Even as most exit polls for the 294-seat Assembly indicate a thumping BJP win, TMC is dead certain about its victory prospects.
Over a month of frenzied campaigning, the BJP unleashed its full might, with top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launching all-out attacks on the TMC over corruption, law and order, infiltration, women’s safety and unemployment, while promising welfare measures.
The TMC’s retaliation, with the CM Mamata Banerjee and party MP Abhishek Banerjee leading the charge, focused on the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) harassment, Bengali persecution and ‘outsider’ plank, accusing the saffron party of failing to deliver on its national commitments and upholding TMC’s development report card.
Two-phase election and repoll
With a total electorate of over 3.21 crores, Bengal underwent a two-phase poll on April 23 and April 29, and witnessed the highest-ever voter turnout of 92.47 per cent since Independence. This was also the first election held in 20 years, conducted after an extensive, albeit controversial SIR exercise that revised the electoral rolls, removing over nine million voters, mostly Muslims.
Sporadic incidents of violence and allegations of EVM malfunction prompted the ECI to announce repolling in 15 polling booths in South 24 Parganas on May 2 and the Falta Assembly constituency on May 21.
Repolling on May 2 concluded with around 87 per cent turnout recorded, officials said.
Assam
Himanta Biswa Sarma is hopeful of retaining his chief ministerial seat as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) eyes a third consecutive term.
Exit polls have predicted the saffron party to cross 64 seats (magic number) in the 126-member Assembly. However, the alliance faces a challenge from Congress state chief Gaurav Gogoi after weeks of campaigning marked by identity politics, welfare delivery and regional aspirations.
Apart from Sarma and Gogoi, other high-profile candidates include Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) Chief Badruddin Ajmal, Raijor Dal Chief and MP Akhil Gogoi, and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) Chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi.
The EVMs will decide the northeastern state’s political fate, sealing the electoral fates of 722 hopefuls.
Twenty-five companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed to guard the counting centres and the strongrooms, housing the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Two additional CAPF companies will be kept on static duty. The authorities will deploy 800 more unarmed police personnel to move the EVMs from strongrooms to the counting centres. Around 93 companies of state armed police have already been deployed in the districts.
Polling in the state was held on April 9, with 85.96 per cent of the over 2.50 crore electorate exercising their franchise.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu went to the polls on April 23 with 4.87 crore electors exercising their franchise, including 2.52 crore women, 2.35 crore men and 4,517 others. An 85.10 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the 234-member Assembly.
The main focus remains on Dravidian legacies. MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is confident of winning again, with a pretty close fight and an impressive electoral debut for actor-turned politician C Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
An important aspect is a record-breaking 443 women stood as contesting candidates in the high-stakes battle between these male-dominated fronts.
Many exit polls have predicted a DMK win. The once-strong All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led BJP alliance also hopes for a comeback. Its chief and former chief minister, Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) has rejected the exit polls.
Three-tier security at strongrooms
For counting of votes recorded in EVMs, 234 counting halls have been arranged. A comprehensive three-tier security arrangement has been established at all counting centres to ensure the integrity and smooth conduct of the counting process. Approximately 1.25 lakh personnel, including officials and micro-observers on vote-counting duty and police, have been deployed.
Kerala
Kerala’s political fate will be decided on Monday as counting of votes for the April 9 Assembly elections begins, bringing to a close an intense and high-stakes contest among the ruling LDF, the opposition UDF, and the BJP-led NDA.
With most exit polls predicting a close contest but giving an edge to the UDF, political parties and leaders will be closely watching the results.
For the Congress-led UDF, which has remained out of power since 2016, the election is being viewed as a do-or-die battle.
Kerala has a total of 2,71,42,952 voters, of whom 79.63 per cent cast their votes across 140 Assembly constituencies on April 9.
A total of 883 candidates contested the election for 140 seats in the state.
There are 140 counting centres across 43 locations, with the process scheduled to begin at 8 am on Monday.
Officials said that 15,464 personnel have been deployed for the exercise, comprising 140 returning officers, 1,340 additional returning officers, 4,208 micro observers, 4,208 counting supervisors, and 5,563 counting assistants.
Security arrangements have been put in place, with 25 companies of central forces deployed alongside state police personnel to guard the counting centres.
Police have also enhanced surveillance across the state to prevent any post-election violence, officials said.
As part of the procedure, the strong rooms where EVMs and VVPAT units are stored will be opened first in the presence of Election Commission observers, security personnel, and representatives of candidates.
Puducherry
In Puducherry, six counting centres have been set up across the Union Territory.
Puducherry Chief Electoral Officer P Jawahar said, in all, six counting centres have been set up across the Union Territory. The counting process for assembly constituencies has been scientifically planned with adequate infrastructure and deployment of manpower.
A total of 166 counting tables have been arranged for counting of votes through EVMs and for VVPATs across the Union Territory, in addition to 35 tables earmarked for counting of postal ballots.
The CEO said the number of counting tables arranged for each Returning Officer ranges between 7 and 14 tables, depending upon the number of electors and polling stations in the respective Assembly constituencies.
Substantial manpower has been deployed for the smooth conduct of counting. There will be 218 counting supervisors, 221 counting Assistants and 232 micro-observers.
A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place at the counting centres in line with the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.
(With PTI inputs)
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