Elections 2021 schedule: Bengal to vote in 8 phases, Assam in 3; outcomes on May 2

The Election Commission introduced Friday the ballot schedule for 4 states and one Union Territory, during which West Bengal will vote in eight phases, Assam in three, and Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry collectively on the identical day.
Voting will probably be unfold over a month between March 27 and April 29, and the outcomes for all 5 Assemblies will probably be introduced on May 2, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora informed reporters.
These are the final set of elections that Arora will oversee as CEC earlier than his retirement on April 13. By then, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry would have completed voting, and West Bengal could be midway via its polling. After this, Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra will take over the reins and oversee the final 4 phases in West Bengal.
The first part of polling for 30 seats in West Bengal is scheduled on March 27. The second part (30 seats) will probably be held on April 1, the third (31 seats) on April 6, fourth (44 seats) on April 10, fifth (45 seats) on April 17, sixth (43 seats) on April 22, seventh (36 seats) on April 26 and the ultimate part for remaining seats on April 29.
Voting in Assam will probably be unfold over three phases, on March 27, April 1 and April 6, respectively. Polling in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will probably be held in a single part on April 6.
The 4 states and the UT of Puducherry are the primary set of Assemblies to ballot amidst the pandemic after the Bihar elections in October final 12 months. Calling Bihar a watershed second for the Commission, Arora stated that the EC would comply with the identical template for the upcoming elections and make sure that the polling personnel are vaccinated earlier than assuming their election duties.

“The rollout of the vaccination has created a positive atmosphere regarding the election. We want to thank the Health ministry for considering Election Commission staff as frontline workers. After all frontline workers get vaccinated, Election Commission staff will get inoculated at the head office,” Arora stated.
Like Bihar, the EC has elevated the variety of polling stations in every of the 4 states and UT to restrict voters’ most quantity in every polling station to 1,000. In the pre-Covid period, as much as 1,500 voters might vote at a polling station. For occasion, the variety of polling stations in West Bengal have been elevated by near 32% and in Assam by 35%. Voting time, like in Bihar, has additionally been elevated for the upcoming elections by one hour.

Of these 5 assemblies, Puducherry was the one one which the Congress might win final time. Currently, President’s Rule has been imposed there and the Assembly stored below suspended animation after the collapse of the V Narayanasamy-led Congress authorities.
West Bengal will probably be keenly watched this election because the BJP, which elevated its vote share and seat tally within the state in the course of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, campaigns aggressively to attempt to wrest energy from Trinamool Congress.

In Tamil Nadu, eager to oust the ruling AIADMK within the forthcoming elections, the DMK has began distributing utility types, searching for aspirants wishing to contest the polls on the social gathering’s image – the ‘rising sun’. The means of handing out utility types has been underway since February 17.