All 234 and West of Tamil Nadu
Over 57.3 million voters will on Thursday decide the electoral fate of 4,023 candidates contesting for the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Voting will also be held for 152 out of 294 seats in the West Bengal Assembly in the first two phases, including all 54 seats in eight districts of North Bengal and several seats in Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum and Hooghly. Out of the total 64.4 million voters in the state, 36 million voters will be eligible to vote in the first phase in Bengal.
Elections in Bengal are being held under the shadow of Special Intensive Review (SIR) and record deployment of security forces. The Election Commission (EC) has deployed 2,450 companies of central forces, with over 8,000 polling stations identified as highly sensitive.
The first phase is crucial for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which aims to oust the ruling Trinamool Congress from power in North Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 assembly elections.
The BJP won 59 of the 152 seats (out of its total 77 seats) in the first phase of the 2021 assembly elections, while the Trinamool won 93 (out of its total 215 seats).
The removal of voters as part of SIR has created uncertainty in both the camps, the ruling TMC as well as the BJP, which has emerged as the major opposition party in the 2021 elections. More than 9.1 million names were removed from the state’s voter list during the process, reducing Bengal’s voter turnout by about 12 percent.
Apart from focusing on infiltration and citizenship as central issues of its campaigns, the BJP has identified women’s safety as a key issue. It has stepped up its attack on TMC for voting against the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill, which seeks to extend the 33 per cent reservation for women in assemblies to 2029. The support of women in elections has been important for the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC over the years. TMC and BJP have promised welfare schemes for women.
The stakes are lower for the BJP in Tamil Nadu, where it is contesting the election as the junior partner of its ally All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led alliance, which also includes the Congress and the Left, against the ruling DMK-led Secular Progress Alliance. The entry of actor-turned-politician Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) has made the contest triangular. In Tamil Nadu, major alliances have reached out to women voters with the promise of providing financial assistance for the purchase of home appliances.
In a development related to the ongoing elections, the Election Commission on Wednesday took “serious note” of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “terrorist” and issued him a “stringent notice”, officials said. He told that he has been asked to clarify his stand within 24 hours. Kharge on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Modi of “terrorizing” political parties by misusing government machinery and central agencies to suppress the opposition, which drew a strong reaction from the BJP, which attacked the opposition leader for calling Modi a “terrorist”.
Election-related seizures, including cash, drugs and liquor meant to lure voters, have crossed the ₹1,000 crore mark in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the Election Commission said on Wednesday. The seizure included ₹127.67 crore in cash, about 41,000 liters of liquor worth ₹106.3 crore, medicines worth about ₹184 crore and precious metals like gold and silver worth ₹215 crore. The Election Commission said officials have also seized freebies worth ₹418 crore.
