Today will be the last day voting in three states, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, as well as the union territory of Puducherry. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry will function in a single phase on Tuesday, while Assam and Bengal vote in the third phase.
More than 27 lakh voters in Kerala are registered to vote in the upcoming elections. The three main contestants in all 140 constituencies are the ruling Left Democratic Front, the United Democratic Front, of which the Congress is a member, and the BJP.
Rahul Gandhi, the Congress chief who was elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala‘s Wayanad in 2019, will campaign in the southern state today.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, a BJP state minister in Assam, will continue campaigning after the Election Commission reduced his campaign ban from 48 to 24 hours. The ban was imposed late Friday night after the BPF chief threatened to imprison opposition leader Hagrama Mohilary, whose party had previously allied with him. In Assam, voting will take place in 40 seats on Tuesday.
Over the last several weeks, Tamil Nadu has seen a tumultuous election campaign. On Tuesday, the state will hold elections for 234 seats. As the DMK-Congress coalition, actor-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam, and TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam give it a tough contest, the AIADMK-BJP alliance is eyeing re-election.
Situation Of Puducherry:
On Tuesday, voters in Puducherry will vote for 30 seats, two months after the V Narayanasamy-led Congress government fell into a majority, causing the party significant embarrassment. Mr Narayanasamy blamed the BJP and the NR Congress for toppling his administration, as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi for “colluding with the opposition.”
The Madras High Court asked last month if the Puducherry election could be postponed due to allegations that the BJP inappropriately accessed and misused voter Aadhaar information, including phone numbers, for campaigning activities.
On Wednesday, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) informed the Madras High Court that no Aadhaar data, specifically cell phone numbers of voters in Puducherry, had been given to the BJP for campaigning in the upcoming elections on April 6.
The third phase of voting in Bengal will take place on Tuesday. In a tightly contested election between the ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP, and the Congress-Left coalition, the state has seen a vitriolic campaign.
Mamata Banerjee called on Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, and other top opposition leaders to unite against the BJP last week.
